Well, I finally got the seal installed into my engine last night. I let it sit overnight to allow the gasket sealer to cure and added oil to it this morning. It was put up on my cherry picker and stood on it's end while I held my breath. About 3 minutes passed and everything was dry. I walked away for about 30 seconds, and when I got back, the dripping had started. After a closer look, I could see that the oil was definitely coming out around the seal. It took about 2 minutes to get a 3" puddle on the floor. I am about ready to pull my hair out.
When I was installing the seal, it was necessary to remove the main caps and lift the crank about .06" as the seal would not slide around the crank with it sitting in the main journals. I did have to trim the ends of the seal .025" to get the proper crush, so maybe they weren't as square as they should have been? I did put a light smear of gasket sealer on the ends and across the parting line of the rear main, so that shouldn't have been the problem. I am at a loss. There are too many success stories out there for me to believe that the seal itself is the problem, so I am guessing that I messed up somewhere.
At this point, the engine has held me up for about 3 weeks and I have a lot of work to do on the rest of the car. I really have no interest in tearing this thing apart again, so now I am going to try to find a good Pontiac guy to take the engine to. Does anyone know of anyone within a few hours of Rhinelander Wisconsin?
|