george44

I have an oil leak from the crankshaft oil seal (pulley side). Did not bother me until I installed a Carrera tail, now there are oil drops on the engine lid and on the rear bumper (because of the aerodynamic effect of the tail), have to wash the rear every time I take the car out. How difficult is to replace the oil seal and do I really need that speacial tool on the Pelican web site (cost $56)? thank you very much,

George
911 SC Targa

Wayne Williams

Hey George,

From memory, you will need to drop the rear muffler, remove rear bumper, move A/C (if you have) compressor to one side and then you should be able to get to the pulley - I can't remember if you need to drop the back of the engine slightly.

Once the pulley is off, you will need to coax the old seal out - be very very careful its easy to mark the inside bore of the the seal housing with a slipped screwdriver!!!

Its not a bad job to do.

I'm sure some of the great guys on this forum will contribute to this as well

Peter Zimmermann

George: You don't have to remove the bumper, but taking off the lower valance will make the job easier. You also must raise the back of the car, support the engine with a floor jack, and remove the rear engine mount cross arm and center pylon. Now the pulley will be exposed. Be careful, you're entering a bit of a minefield here, because the seal itself might not be leaking. The leak might be coming from around the outside of #8 main bearing - there is an internal o-ring that seals the bearing when the engine is assembled. There is a fix for that, but it's only successful about half the time. Another possibility is that the intermediate shaft bore cover might also be leaking.

Regarding your original question, you can install the new seal without it, but great care is required.
Pete

theiceman

What does this leak look like ?

This is the leak, well , one of them anyway , that i am having trouble identifying. Sorry if i am hijacking but thought it was the same leak and can use the advice from this post.

ice

art

Could be from the seal(easy fix), or around the bearing where it fits into the case which is not an easy fix. Could also be from the little plate that covers the other shaft bore, which is the easiest of all.

george44

Thank you Wayne and Peter, when I bought the car back in 2000 I did a pre-purchase inspection and the mechanic wrote this down, said it is the seal and the cost for fixing it (approx. US$150 if I'am not mistaken). As I said it did not bother me too much, it's the only place where it's leaking a bit hence not really annoying or dangerous; this is why I believe it's the seal and not the O-ring, actually I had no idea about this O-ring and what it can do in terms of oil leak.`Was just debating with myself if I should tackle it myself or take the car to a mechanic and let him do it. Guess I'll give it a try, the mechanic will always be there if I run into trouble.

Wayne Williams

No Worries George,

I find that my SC leaks oil if I use 15/40 or 15/50, stick 20/50 in it (which IMO is better suited to these engines) and the leak may clear up - not the ideal option I know but it may stop it until you have time to fix.

I bet Pete is shaking his head at the above

theiceman

Hi Guys , just thought I would give an update post as I kind of mixed up 2 threads. I did have the whole thing apart. I was not leaking at the seals or covers but just wanted to let you know how it went. it was not difficult to get to the area , but took a little time. Check my post on " frustrating NON oil leak .

ice

Peter Zimmermann

Wayne: LOL! I've actually heard that 20/50, which is all that I use in my SC, can have a slowing effect on oil leaks. How and why is way beyond my reasoning ability, you wouldn't think the difference between 15/50 and 20/50 is that much. However, because my shop put 20/50 in all '89 and earlier 911s, we really never witnessed this kind of a "fix" first hand. I've also been told that switching back from synthetic to dyno oil can also reduce seepage/sweating...

George: I think that you've got some prices confused - $150 to replace the rear crank seal is a bargain!!!

Pete