The seal was easy enough to remove. It was further out than as shown in the workshop manual and oil was found between the housing and the seal. Unfortunately the new seal leaked almost immediately, subsequently found to be due to having been improperly fitted.
The oil pump housing was later removed to inspect the housing and crankshaft to properly determine the cause for the leak, only to discover that part of the seal's lip had been folded during fitment. The seal is not the usual type, having a wide, thin lip requiring the seal to first be slid onto a dummy shaft of the same diameter which is then held centred on the crankshaft so that the seal can be slid from the dummy shaft onto the crankshaft without any chance of the lip folding over. The dummy shaft needs not to have a rounded edge to prevent the seal lip from closing as it passes across the join onto the crankshaft. A mirror was used to check that the seal's lip had correctly passed over the join before the lip disappeared from view.
Notwithstanding the workshop manual instructions regarding the depth of the outer edge of the seal, the housing had obviously been redesigned to allow the seal to be driven fully in to rest against a machined lip, with the seal's outer edge well below the housing edge so that the seal was not in danger of working its way out. However a drop or 2 of bearing retainer was applied to the top edge of the seal once the seal was 50% fitted.
MY12 RRV 4.4 TDV8 AB, +LLAMS, +e-diff, +ACC stop/go. Produce LLAMS for LR/RR, Jeep GC/Dodge Ram
VK2HFG and APRS W1 digi
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