Cali,68,L-79

Started Saturday ended 10;30 PM Tuesday, 14.5 hours!!

1. Replaced rear main seal
2. oil pan gasket
3. painted pan and all suspension
4. replaced starter
5. Lowered rear with 10" VB bolts

Last night about 9:00PM I had the rear up while getting the correct ride height and looked forward and saw a oil puddle the size of Lake Erie. I absloutely lost it. I thought 3 days wasted , started cursing, throwing tools. Well anyway after I lowered the rear I lifted the front and found out;

1. The oil was brand new, car never run so the black oil on the ground couldn't possibly be the oil.
2. When the car's nose was raised was raised with jack stands and the oil pan ands rear cap was off, oil gravity drained across the raer bearing and into the tranny casing and sat there until I lifted the rear.

I thanked God when I found out it wasn't a oil pan/ rear seal leak.

Well got the car ride height where I wanted it.

LF- 26.5"
RF-26.6"
LR-27.5"
RR-27.65" (little tweaking needed still)


[Modified by Cali,68,L-79, 11:53 AM 3/3/2004]

NHvette

:thumbs:

Hope you didn't hurt anyone or yourself during the oil puddle rage :banghead: .
Well, you can probably laugh about it now. :lolg: :hurray:

Watch out for those long bolt ends hitting the tire !! :yesnod:

Jughead

That's about the height I'm running. :thumbs:

LemansBlue68

Congratulations on completing the job!!

So what inquiring minds want to know is did the rear seal replacement fix the leak? And would you have preferred to pay your mechanic to do the job? I'd guess you saved yourself a substantial sum of green $$. :thumbs:

flood

I am thinking that my rear seal may be leaking. I have a few questions for ya !

My leak is from behind the oil pan, actually oil seems to be dripping off the front of the tranny case. I need to look at it alot more closely but could that be comming from the rear main seal?

How hard is it to get to? I am very un-familiar with where the rear main seal is and what you have to go thru to get to it. I have a book on the car (repair manual) and will dive into it here shortly and hope that answers some of my questions (im sure it will). But figured I would ask someone who just did it.

I noticed the leak appeard when my driving got more aggresive and I started spinning the tires more often :cool:

terryrudy

Congrats on a job well done. I hope one day soon to tackle the RMS, oil pan gasket, and tranny gasket. I am thinking about the painting project as well. . . .
Thanks for the inspiration!
-terry

Cali,68,L-79

flood I'm sorry to say that that is a symptom of a rear main seal leak. If the oil pan was leaking it would be quite obvious as seen from the back of the pan with a flashlight.

Order :
Oil pan gasket - FEL-OS534510T- 33.69
Rear main seal – FPP-2912- 21.95

From http://www.summitracing.com/ or whatever vendor you use and I'll walk you thru the process. the hardest part is the cleaning of the gasket and degreasing/ paiting the pan etc. The actual seal operation is pretty easy.
as per: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=765740

Drove it to work today 35 miles each way average highway speed 75mph, no leaks, no problems.

:cheers: :cheers:

Never Finished

Isn't it nice to find out it's something simple? It doesn't happen often, but when it does I relish the moment.

In other words, I love it when it is not nearly as bad as I expected. Usually it's worse.

l2vette

Cali:
What is your suspension set-up??

Cali,68,L-79

Speeddirect http://www.speeddirect.com/index.aspx?nodeid=70 "sharkbite" semi-coilovers with 350 springs and 1/1/4" front bar with 250 rear spring koni rear shocks and VB 10" bolts. all else stock.

LFZ

Cali, any pics of the whole car...i'd love to see that stance..sounds very low and nice. :cheers:

Eddie 70

I was wondering about the stance too. Get the camera fired up and lets see what shes looking like now. BTW, sounds like you did a good job on the seals. That was an acid test for sure.

Cali,68,L-79

I'll go down to the lake tommorow when the sun's out and fire off some pics.

motown 71

Replaced my oil pan seals too.
I had bent the "ears" on the dust cover and didn't know it.
1st start after finish I had on heck of a racket as the crank was hitting the edge of the dust cover........that will give ya a little scare when ya hear that racket !

flood

Well I looked closer and the leak is comming out of the inspection cover.

I would assume that is the rear mainseal that is leaking then? Its for sure oil.
Now I am a newbie at this so I may ask stupid questions. (Im 25yrs old and this is my 1st 350)

The rear main seal....hm... looks from your pictures that it sits in one of the main caps for the crank?

So I would assume at this point that you have to discon bat., drain the oil, remove starter and inspection plate, drop the oil pan, and remove one of the main caps and that houses the seal?

A brief explanation of where the mainseal is and what it does would be helpful. :confused: I guess im at square 1.


[Modified by flood, 5:57 PM 3/8/2004]

Cali,68,L-79

Step 1. First order and receive all parts
(1-piece oil pan gasket, rear main seal, part numbers posted above, 5 qts 5-30 oil, ph35 filter, oil pan plug gasket as necessary, assortment cotter pins, 1 tube Permatex 2B., flashlight, lots of shop rags, oil catch pan, ¾, 9/16, ½, 7/16, 5/16 combination wrenches and ratchet/sockets/ extensions. 1 rubber mallet, one BFH and oil filter wrench.

1. Disconnect battery completely
2. Jack up front end
3. Drain all oil, leave sitting for a while
4. With pickle fork, needle nose and BFH remove cotter pins on driver's side steering link and center link whether PS/ manual steering rod, only one bolt must come out of the rod and it can be swung out of the way.
5. Using post it notes and tape clearly mark the R, S, 2 grounds on the starter solenoid wires and disconnect wires. Note if ground wire on outer starter bolt and mark that as well. Front of starter has ground leash to rear of right sway arm, mark that as well. Remove 2 bolts and prepare for 35-pound starter to come out at your face so prepare to catch it.
6. Note if shims between starter and mount, count the shims and place in safe keeping continue to remove starter out of hole and clean up starter. Note good time to invest $11.25 for new starter relay.
7. Take off the four 7/16 bolts holding the tranny shield and carefully pull it forward and out without bending. Good time to clean it up and spray silver if corroded.
8. Remove inner oil pan bolts 7/16 and start on the 1/2-end bolts. Keep oil drain pan below if oil still is in the oil pan. With all bolts removed pan may still be attached. Do not use BFH! Use soft rubber mallet and tap lightly till pan comes off. Check pan for metallic pieces or magnetic sludge crap. Good time to spray pan with 1500 degree Chevy orange after removing all the gasket material on the pan lips.
9. Clean off gasket material on bottom of engine carefully making sure not to gouge crank or any bearing. Once oil pan and engine is clean of gasket material...
10. Remove center bolt holding oil pump while supporting it, as it will come flying off. Note if oil pickup is welded on if not find a welder to do so, you shouldn't need one though.
11. Remove bolts holding rear main bearing/seal and watch as it separates. Right side has a nipple that ensures alignment. Remove the lower bearing and then carefully remove the 2-piece seal with a small screwdriver or such without hitting the bearing!!!!
12. Note how old seal was installed with lip pointing towards front of car. Instructions that come with seal will point this out. This is a must!!
13. Stagger 2 piece seals into top of bearing and the cap you removed with Permatex on the ends of the seals. Stagger that seal ends stick out 1/4"
14. Put together the cap and seal as a mock fitting not bolting together just hold up with your hand and see if the Permatez sealant squeezed together. If so it will crate a good tight seal.
15. Re-remove the lower cap and clean up the seals with new Permatex than put sparingly some permatex on the actual metal sealing surfaces of the cap not on the bearing!!
16. Realign the lower cap and reinstall the bearing cap and seal. Torque down the bearing evenly! Reinstall oil pump aligning up the oil pump drive with the distributor shaft, you need a flashlight for this, push oil pump up and bolt it down.
17. Than place a dab of Permatex on the corner ends of the block where the timing mark meets the engine block and where the oil pan gasket meets the rear of the block.
18. Screw in plastic studs that come with the 1-piece oil pan gasket and then lift up the oil pan gasket and hang on these plastic studs using your fingers to push the gasket into the four mating surfaces on the front / rear of the block.
Lift the cleaned/ painted oil pan up and when supported by the plastic pieces start screwing in the new bolts that come with the oil pan gasket. Remove plastic screws and insert corner bolts. Torque as per directions rail=8ft. lbs. Corner=18ft. lbs. In criss cross motion and evenly on corners.
19. Reinstall tranny cover make sure lip is not touching crank
20 Reinstall starter and bolt up with shims as applicable.
21. Reinstall wires being careful of notes you made. DO NOT BE DUMB BUTT LIKE MYSELF AND TORQUE ON THESE BOLTS!! Lightly tighten all down and check all 6 wires are connected.
21. Install new oil filter
22. Reassemble steering as per above in reverse with new cotter pins. Reinstall tires lower car. Note oil will drip into the tranny cavity when the pan is removed so expect oil to drip out when the car is lowered. You haven’t added oil yet so it’s no big deal.

Do not add oil for 12 hours!
Next day

23. Add 5 quarts-check oil levels
24. Reconnect battery and watch oil pressure gauge while cranking over. No oil pressure stop immediately!!
25. Once warm check for leaks and hopefully happy motoring.

:cheers:

David

Double Aught

Your step-by-step description is not detailed enough. I am very disappointed in you Cali. :nonod:
:jester

flood

this is awsome. I will need to order the parts , but it sounds like something I can do for sure.

Its frustrating to have just gone through the entire cooling system and then an oil leak springs ! although my story sounds familar to everyone elses on this forum :lol:

Sounds like this shouldn't be a costly repair to perform. I really really appreciate you taking the time to list the instructions on this. I will post on the board with my results and hopefully take some pics along the way. Although they will pry look exactly like yours if everything goes well :cheers:

terryrudy

Nice write-up Cali! Got an MS Word doc with pics for corvettefaq? ;)
-terry

Paul L

Cali has been very, very thorough! Here is the rear main cap with oil pump removed.



And here is the cap with half of the seal.




[Modified by paul67, 10:58 AM 3/9/2004]