Posted by chriscase on Friday, June 03, 2005 at 2:30PM :
In Reply to: Anything I should know before I posted by Matthew - Nebraska on Friday, June 03, 2005 at 9:31AM :
Full gasket sets come with lots of funny seal parts, there must have been a few different seals. How is your crank vent and blow-by, and bearings? Not worth fixing seal if crank is rattling around in it's hole, seal won't work. Nor if you have lots of blowby pressurizing the crankcase and pushing the oil out. Otherwise, it's a pita.
Wear old clothes, and goggles, the engine will NEVER stop dripping.
I assume you are replacing a rope/wick seal with another of the same. It helps to loosen the rest of the mains and let the crank drop a little, any looseness you can get will help. Try loosening the old part by poking it with whatever- a little screwdriver, ice pick, feeler gauge leaves, knife, 50 cal M2 Browning, anything that helps. DO NOT SCRATCH THE CRANK. Use a brass or soft iron screw (NOT a drywall screw) into the end of the upper seal and pull out the old one, like pulling a nail. DO NOT SCRATCH THE CRANK. Getting the new back one back in is a bitch too. Dip it in oil, compress it, and shoehorn it in. Use some of the same tools you poked at the old one, dents in the seal will swell out. DO NOT SCRATCH THE CRANK. Then be sure to trim it flush, and clean up the block surface or the cap won't seal. Try the cap on, to be sure you have a good clean fit.. Don't seal the ends of the seal, just the block mating surfaces.
If you did NOT SCRATCH THE CRANK, it might seal better than before.
You could also replace the main bearings now, but high milage motors have a potential problem. The crank has been pushing down on the beariings, wearing the bottom half of the bearings. Meanwhile, the pistons have been wearing a ridge in the cylinder walls. New bearings will push the pistons up, where the rings will hit the ridge, and break the ring lands...so goes the theory, anyhow. You would have to pull the head and ream the ridges off at the same time...