Rear Main Seal

[rebel]

Not my car, thank heavens, my bf's brothers car, he claims that he has an oil leak, he has taken it to his mechanic friend, who said that it was a seal in the back of the engine somewhere, Anyway, i know that rear main seals are a common problem in VN's but he was quoted $2500 to rebuild the engine, this wouldn't be necessary would it? Or is there another seal that qould require alot more work and be very costly???

[MaNiac_VP]

QUick question.
Is it a VN or VP engine?
VP engines are pretty easy to change the seal, you have to jack the car up and then its in full view and easy to change.

VN series 1 is a lot harder to do and I stuffed up the first time i did one and made the seal even worse and had to pay just over 600 bucks to get it professianlly fixed.

Unless the engine is rooted, why would he need a rebuild??
I'd goto a few places and get some quotes.

[OSL-060]

Exactly what I said in messenger

I think it's got a shagged bearing, or so the mechanic claims.

Jake.

[rebel]

not exaclty sure why, but i believe that this mechanic has his hand on it a bit, thats maybe why he shut shop christmas eve. But i will get the full low down of the real problem when i see them next, i doubt they even have a major problem like they claim.

Also it is a VN, not a VP, i believe that it is possibly a series 1 also, but as i said, i will get the full details tomorrow

[jules]

leaky main seals are a terminal problem with the holden v6 i believe

[.::Crocodile Hunter::.]

QUOTE (MaNiac_VP @ Jan 8 2004, 12:41 AM)
VP engines are pretty easy to change the seal, you have to jack the car up and then its in full view and easy to change.

arr changing the rear main seal, Gearbox must be removed so it is not as simple as you might think straight foward job though.

CODE leaky main seals are a terminal problem with the holden v6 i believe

not allways depending on how many k's the motor has done. remember seals get old and crusty with age and will start to leak.

heres an image of a rear main that i replaced in my VP about 2 months ago allong with the Ring Gear, didnt replace it cause of leackage. i changed the Rear main because i had to pull the gear box out to replace ring gear, any time i pull out a gearbox the rear main gets replaced whilst i am there, i will leave it if it is kinda new oil you see is mainly from the damm Sump :S

[MaNiac_VP]

QUOTE (.::Crocodile Hunter::. @ Jan 8 2004, 09:17 AM) QUOTE (MaNiac_VP @ Jan 8 2004, 12:41 AM)
arr changing the rear main seal, Gearbox must be removed so it is not as simple as you might think straight foward job though.



Actually you'll find you only have to drop the pan really. It's still not an easy job, but definately easy in comparison with early VN engines!!
No need to remove the whole tranny!
Gives you an excuse to service the tranny while your at it thow.

[OSL-060]

Quick slightly OT question for you Paul

So the series I VN rear main can be done with the box out, without having to hoist the motor?

Jake.

[MaNiac_VP]

Nah mate series 1 is a prick, you have to pull the engine out to get to it.
Cost me about 600 bucks all up. Prolly more usually but I'd already removed half the engine.

VP can be done with the tranny pan dropped, but i think you have to drop the tranny if its a manual cause the flywheel gets in the way?? Not 100% sure of that, just what I have been told by someone on here I think.

Never touched motors after that, but the VP is definately easier.
You can just pull the seal out with some small pliers.

[MaNiac_VP]

ACtually come to think of it, maybe with series 1, if you removed the tranny and flywheel you'd be able to do it.
I never tried that as I didn't want to remove my whole transmission.

[OSL-060]

Thanks Paul, I'm pulling mine to do the clutch and inspect the t5. So may aswell do the rear main while I'm there.

Jake.

[Garth]

well, the bad new's is i saw rebels b/f's brother's car, and i must say, it's not to good, it has the all familiar rattle from the rear end. it's thrown the rear crank bearing, or spun it, either way it's not good, and yeah, it has a nasty oil leak at the back, it's a series one vn. it has a few other engine problems, i removed the oil cap while engine was running, looked in, no oil flow threw there at all, the bloody thing is starved for oil, but there is no oil pressure light on in car. i have recomended a new engine, dont rebuild the one that's in it, it's block will now be rooted.

[Grantis1976]

An american importer from Brissy tells me that these V6 motors have been a problem since there fisrt incarnation, way b4 we were born. Below is a list of Commies that I personaly know of that have had the rear main replaced / or needing it real bad !!!
Series 1 & 2 VN
? ? VR
? ? VS x 4
Series 1 VT
" 1 VX x 2

Not a good record, but it all comes down to part of the maintainance.
Good Luck To All in this situation !!!