Good morning,

Crap.... Most of you don't remember, but two years ago I had questioned about how to change out the opti on my 93. With much help, and finally after two years, a new opti was put in (along with dozens of other replacemenets... but regardless, car runs *perfect*..except, after a 30 minute highway drive home last night, I checked under the car about 10 minutes after we got home, looked under the car, and sure enough, I had a softball sizes puddle of the fresh oil I had put in.

Whenever I changed out the opti, we took off the crank pulley, but we also backed out the center bolt on the crank (however, didn't take off the spindle).

The car has literally sat, un-run for almost a year and a half. I looked this morning for the leak before work, it clearly shows a puddle under the opti/crank (and it's definitely oil). Do you guys think that the front main seal may have dry rotted in that un-running year and a half and now it's leaking, or did I not put that center crank bolt on tight enough, causing it to leak under the pressure of the engine running? It appears you're supposed to use an air rachet to get the bolt on as there is the guide hole for it on the frame. But I only hand tightened it with the rachet.

Also, if it is the seal, can I get by with a thicker oil (car has 100k on the clock anyway) and some Lucas Stop Leak?

I'm SOOOO close to being done with this massive project, can anyone shed some light on this mystery please?

Thanks greatly to all!

 

Did you remove the waterpump driveshaft? If so and if you didn't use the GM (or a makeshift tool) during reassembly, it's likely the oil is leaking past the waterpump driveshaft seal due to improper installation.

Only one way to find out for sure...tear it apart and look for the oil trail. Gotta tear it all apart to fix it anyway, so it's not wasted effort.

 

Well, we left that intact when we pulled the water pump. We made a brief attempt to pull it out, but we found it unnecessary since it wasn't in our way. So that stayed put.

I agree that we may have to tear down to find the leak, but I guess our knockles are so banged up from tearing it all down and redoing it that we're trying to find the other options before doing so, even though it looks as though that's going to have to happen.

Do you know how much torque that center bolt needs to be tightened to?

 

in a word, yes.

Unused seals will turn to stone after a short time... faster in dryer climates.

I would have pulled the timing cover and replaced them all.

At that point it was another hour of labour to get the hub off the crank. Also, I would have replaced the oil pan and rear main seal gaskets.

I would not be surprised if the intake starts leaking next. The rear main more than likely won't until you fix the front main... the intake isn't oil pressure dependant, but crankcase pressure dependant!

 

Ok, one more question:

Is there a seal/gasket behind the actual distributor that would go between the distributor and the block, that if not intact would cause an oil leak?

 

I had the same problem and it was the WP seal.It is a PIA to do right.You can look from the pass side if it is that seal you will see oil on top of the opti.To install it correctly take the coupler between the pump and gear and de bur it.Oil it and slide the seal onto it carefully.Find as deepwell socket just bigger than the coupler then put the coupler on followed by a good tap with the socket.Good luck.

 

yes.

it would also cause the opti to die - too much oil inside the optical side.

 

Seal Lube 800 434-9192
http://www.seallube.com/

Guaranteed to stop main seal leakage. Check out all the products.
(I have no interest in the company). They say it will also stop valve seal leakage.

 

Ok, I have it torn down right now, have the water pump off, opti off, and crank pulley/harmonic balancer off.

It's the front main seal that has gone to the crapper. However to replace it I need to get off the crank bracket off that the harmonic balancer mounts to? I heard this was a delicate procedure, but I need to be sure before I yank it off. When I removed the actual crank pulley, it pulled the other out about a half inch. This is my last step, any thoughts?

Thanks all!!

 

If you talking about the hub it is a pia.Mark you crank for reassembly with the ridge on the hub.Most people use the kent moore tool as it is a re installer too.Unfortunately it is expensive.Others have gotten it off with a high grade puller.I haven't had the pleasure of doing this yet so I can't help much more but if I were you I would start a new thread on pulling the hub.