Crankshaft rear seal didn't fix the oil leak

[Jagdpanzer]

Jim,
Remove the front bellhousing cover and see if the oil is coming from the valley drain tube or the crankshaft seal area.

[QB93Z]

Originally Posted by Jagdpanzer

Jim,
Remove the front bellhousing cover and see if the oil is coming from the valley drain tube or the crankshaft seal area.

Here's the visual: Jim smacking his forhead and saying "DOH"

Good idea Phil. I will give it a try. I have a snake camera I just might be able to get up there.

Stay tuned.

Jim

[tomtom72]

That's the cleanest looking oil I've ever seen. Sure looks like it's fresh, ofcourse fresh 10w-60 TWS oil is the same golden color.

Just an observation about the color and the absence of any blackening..

Tom

[Scrrem]

Jim,
When we had the transmission out, I did notice oil coming from the passenger side valve cover area. Would it be possible that this is leaking bad enough to run down to that same area?
Rich

[QB93Z]

I removed the bell housing dust cover plate and looked around. There was no detectable oil coming from the crankshaft rear seal housing, but it hard to see at that angle. There was an oil drip at the end of the valley drain tube.

I started by inspecting the PCV valves and tubing. I didn't see any obvious defects.

So, I have pulled the plenum, coil packs tray, and the starter. The valley is a mess, and there is a lot of oil as well as 102K miles worth of grime. I plan to clean it up and then clear the interference and torqe the crank case vent housing bolts. The two vent elbows look OK.

Now some more questions:

Why are there two different PCV valves? How do you tell if a PCV valve is bad?

Jim

[tomtom72]

I don't know why we have a left & right.

I check mine about 1/2 way thru the season and always wind up spraying carb cleaner in them to free them up. You should be able to shake them and hear the check valve rattling. When they get dirty the sound goes from a metallic tic, tic, to more of a thud, thud.

I just replace mine every year.

Ya know Jim, if the valley tube was even a bit loose fitting at the top then it could be reasonable to expect the oil to miss the tube and run down the back of the block & come out at the bottom. My CCVB bolts were so loose that the oil was all over the place under my plenum and on that corner of the oil pan where the tube exits.


Tom

[QB93Z]

Originally Posted by tomtom72

I don't know why we have a left & right.

I check mine about 1/2 way thru the season and always wind up spraying carb cleaner in them to free them up. You should be able to shake them and hear the check valve rattling. When they get dirty the sound goes from a metallic tic, tic, to more of a thud, thud.

I just replace mine every year.

Ya know Jim, if the valley tube was even a bit loose fitting at the top then it could be reasonable to expect the oil to miss the tube and run down the back of the block & come out at the bottom. My CCVB bolts were so loose that the oil was all over the place under my plenum and on that corner of the oil pan where the tube exits.


Tom

Thanks for the info Tom.

Did you remove the CCVB and replace the gasket or were you able to stop the leaks by just torqing the bolts that can be reached without removing the AC compressor?

The valley drain tube was firmly installed. We removed it, cleaned out the drain hole, and reinstalled the tube securely (Thanks Phil).

When I removed the bell housing lower front cover last night, I noticed that it has a curved indentation that matches the location of the valley drain tube. This arrangement causes any drainage from the valley to go INTO the bell housing. Because the top edge of the lower front cover is not connected to the block or the oil pan, any leakage from the crankshaft rear seal housing or the back of the block would run down the back of the oil pan not into the bell housing. It is hard to say where any oil leaking past the crank shaft seal itself would end up.

Jim

[tomtom72]

Yes, I was doing my injectors and had a top end gasket kit from Kurt so I just replaced the old gasket because I had it. The A/C compressor I un-bolted the comp & the mount (?) if I remember right and moved it forward & rested it on the right side of the rad shroud. No system dump of the gas as there is enough slack in the hoses to move the comp out of the way. I do believe I had to remove the linkage for the secondaries along with the linkage shields to get the CCVB cover off, I think. I replaced the hoses also as I had them too. The mess was huge from the bolts being loose!

I swear that my valley tube ends at the right rear corner of my pan, that's where all my oil was ending up and on the ground!


Tom

I used an old T/Q'ing sequence from the old MoPar wedge motors on the box cover, an X or a circular pattern. They had this flat metal pan that went under the intake mainfold to seal the velley. I rechecked the T/Q on my cover bolts two yrs ago and they were still tight. Oh, forgot, I used some blue thread locker too on them suckers. My bolts were finger tight!!!

[A26B]

Jim,
Tom is correct about removing the secondary linkage shield to get the CCVH out for gasket replacement. I'm not one to recommend short cuts, but I would suggest that you consider leaving it in place & just tightening the bolts (13 if I remember right). You could snug down the corner bolts to start, then remove bolts, clean the oil off, apply a little thread lock & replace until all were done. I found the same problem on my '94 at 68K miles before the 415 build and did this procedure. No further leaks.

I fixed the oil pan leaks the same way & it worked fine.

Good luck Jim.

[QB93Z]

Thanks Tom. Thanks Jerry.

I had come to the same conclusion. I will try an incremental approach and see if tightening the bolts and grooming the PCV system will solve the problem.

Jim