i noticed today alot of oil build up on the front of my oil pan just below the crank shaft pulley. I saw my oil light come on a few times when i started the motor which made me look into it. I checked the oil and it looked lower then normal so i got to inspecting further and seen all the oil. It was spread from the oil sending unit all the way to the other side of the front of the pan. Im really praying its not the seal on the crank shaft. Has any one ever had this problem? And if so does the oil pan come out without lifting the motor? Any help is appreciated. This truck is my daily driver and my sole means of transportation to support 3 daughters and i cant afford to seize the motor or some thing. Not to mention this truck is my baby..

 

`What you have is mainbearing seal failure ,a normal maintance item at about 100k mi.Do have it repaired ASAP,and the rear main as well,best to do them in pairs and save the labor cost.This is a labor intensive job if you do it yourself.Best suggestion have a shop do it with a warrenty in the deal.Shop around for quotes...........

 

sounds like my worst fear. can i get it out without pulling the motor? by going in the front? and how long do i have before some thing bad happens? i know thats the wrong way to look at it but with x mas and all money is tight.

 

I feel ya!
Just make sure the oil level is always good no low, to the max position, check it every morning and refill as need it.
Don't do long trips at a high speed and fix it ASAP

 

I would recommend cleaning your engine first so that you can confirm where the oil is coming from. If it is the front crank seal, you need to remove some stuff from the front of the engine to get to it, but you don't need to remove or lift the engine. If you don't have a shop manual, you might want to try downloading the one from this forum (the engine section is section 9 & the oil seal process is described on 9-957/958 for the 4.7) and that will give you a pretty good idea of what you're looking at - the whole job can be done from the front. With these engines, there's some good news and bad news - the good news is that you don't need to remove as much as you did on older engines. The bad news is that you need a special tool to do the job. If you have the capability of doing this job, you can rent or buy an aftermarket seal remover installer kit for these engines and do the job, otherwise, it will be a costly process.

If it's not leaking too badly, you don't need to do it right away, but do it as soon as you can - keep an eye on the oil level and put a sheet under to keep the oil off the driveway.

If your rear crank seal isn't leaking, I wouldn't touch it - this requires a lot of different disassembly and in my opinion, you won't save time or money doing both at the same time.

 

hey thanks for the info. ya i have a shop manual and ive been looking at that section. actually don't seem that bad. you guys have been awesome thanks alot for the advice. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Before you get started on this, do clean the engine to confirm it's that seal, then, get ALL the parts & tools that you'll need, and finally, get a copy of the procedures you plan to use & visually plan it all out. When you change the seal, use the proper removal/installation tool & be careful not to scratch the surface of the crank where the seal rubs, and before installing the new seal, inspect that area of the crank to see if it's completely smooth - sometimes the seals fail because their quality is crappy, sometimes they leak because there's a groove worn into that area of the crank allowing the oil to creep by. If you find that the crank surface for the seal is either worn or defective, you can repair this without removing the crank. You can use what's called a micro-sleeve and an oversized seal. The micro-sleeve is a very thin and hard sleeve that slides over the crank seal area and is bonded to the crank. The oversize seal then goes over this sleeve & holds in the oil.

 

My crank seal went a while back on mine. I ended up just taking it in to the dealer. I just checked the receipt, mine was done under warranty, but if I would've paid for it it would've been about $150.

 

Not too bad for a stealer... Dealer $

 

i cleaned it the other day with brakekleen and got it totally spotless. i just checked it again after i drove it. just took a photo of it and put a link to the photo in this reply. hoperfully you guys can see it. ya there is fresh oil coming from where the main seal it looks like. what do you guys think?





https://dodgeforum.com/forum/attachm...1&d=1354977200