leaky rear main seal??

[friedchicken]

hey guys

just wondering if anyone here has/has had a leaky rear main seal. i was under the impression that they were a very common problem in all the v6s.

The story: pulled my motor out yesterday for welch plugs, so decided to do a rear main seal at the same time. so pulled the rear journal apart, and found i dont even have a rear main seal... theres a bit of muck sitting in the bottom, but no seal to be found. and it wasnt leaking at all. so im kinda confused about that. the local holden dealer said vs's did have problems with them, buicks didnt.

any thoughts??

[CALAIS 6]

mine pisses out trans fluid but 2 trans places told me it was a rear main seal i thought it would be oil if it was that

[m62vpute]

mine pisses out trans fluid but 2 trans places told me it was a rear main seal i thought it would be oil if it was that

Man you have lost me

I dont know why you would have trans fluid pissing out of your motors rear main seal

[CALAIS 6]

Man you have lost me

I dont know why you would have trans fluid pissing out of your motors rear main seal

ok yeh i got confused myself my car pisses trans fluid out but 2 trans places told me its the rear main seal but if it was rear main seal it wouldnt piss out trans fluid would it???

[Emackulation]

Are you certain it was trans fluid then? Cause if it was trans fluid then its not your rear main. Maybe you have a trans leak neer the rear main seal and the two oils mixed together and you thought it was just trans?

[samuels]

Are you certain it was trans fluid then? Cause if it was trans fluid then its not your rear main. Maybe you have a trans leak neer the rear main seal and the two oils mixed together and you thought it was just trans?

maybe it's the front seal on the tranny

[Hillerus]

I find it hard to believe that two transmission specialist shops cant tell the difference between ATF and Engine oil. ATF is very distinctive with its red colour(im sure everyone here knows that), and even if burnt, it has an obvious ATF smell and look to it. If they say its your rear main, you'd almost have to think they are correct, especially if two shops are saying the same thing.

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Rear main seal of the engine or the rear extension housing seal of the transmission?

[friedchicken]

well i guess i can assume not many people acctually have any trouble with the rear main seal... shouldnt have touched it. working fine without one => doesnt need one

[CALAIS 6]

I find it hard to believe that two transmission specialist shops cant tell the difference between ATF and Engine oil. ATF is very distinctive with its red colour(im sure everyone here knows that), and even if burnt, it has an obvious ATF smell and look to it. If they say its your rear main, you'd almost have to think they are correct, especially if two shops are saying the same thing.

well the oil level has never dropped and im topping up my trans fluid evey week cos its leaking that bad and its red liquid thats all over my driveway

[samuels]

well i guess i can assume not many people acctually have any trouble with the rear main seal... shouldnt have touched it. working fine without one => doesnt need one

like any engine,over time your rear main seal will end up going,if the engine is out,it always pays to put a new one in,especially if the K's have been bumped up...nearly every VN i have serviced has had an oil leak from some where,not always the rear main,oil leaks can be tricky,especially in the buick motor as it leans backwards slightly,making the oil leak back towards the rear main seal.whats astounding is, if you said there was no rear main seal in your motor,the question asked, is why hasn't the oil leaked,very unusual,are you original owner of the car? if not someone may have put oil stop leak in,and depending on which brand,they work very well,but this is only a bandaid solution.

[friedchicken]

if you said there was no rear main seal in your motor,the question asked, is why hasn't the oil leaked,very unusual,are you original owner of the car? if not someone may have put oil stop leak in,and depending on which brand,they work very well,but this is only a bandaid solution.

i think im the 3rd owner. but ive had the car for about 3 years/~60k kms, so its had a few oil changes and i certainly havent put anything in the oil.

but yes the seal was completely gone. there was a little bit of oily gunk sitting in the bottom of the seal seat, thats it. car hadnt used any oil in the 10k kms since the last oil change, and there was no leaks out the back. the little slinger thing infront of the seal must be pretty good.

[samuels]

i think im the 3rd owner. but ive had the car for about 3 years/~60k kms, so its had a few oil changes and i certainly havent put anything in the oil.

but yes the seal was completely gone. there was a little bit of oily gunk sitting in the bottom of the seal seat, thats it. car hadnt used any oil in the 10k kms since the last oil change, and there was no leaks out the back. the little slinger thing infront of the seal must be pretty good.

Hmmm sounds like it ,something that i have not witnessed as yet,an engine with no rear main seal and not leaking

[defa]

i take it you are talking about a series 1 seal.
i did mine a couple of months ago. and there was nearly nothing left of it. i used a sneaky pete. despite what people say about these quick fix's, this one is the go. ya don't have to take the crank out. so go and buy or borrow one of those. it is handy to have a second person to turbo the engine over as you are putting it in. make life a lot easier. use silicone spray one the seal before you put it in too. the instructions are on the back of a sneaky pete, so it is easier if ya read them rather than me going through it all.
the rope seals are very cheap. i got mine from holden..