So, my truck has a rear main seal leak as evidenced by the oil drips in the driveway and a visual inspection underneath.

here's my questions:

Going to replace oil pump as preventative maintanence, any reason to go with a high flow pump or just the standard replacement?
I've seen rear main seals made of different materials, rubber, polyacrylate, silicone, Viton, and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), any of these clearly better than others? not looking to redo this any time soon.
I read dhvaughan's thread on this as well as the ps article, but anybody got any last minute tips on how to avoid problems like getting the oil pan in/out? How easy/hard was it to punch out the old upper seal?

I've got spring break coming in about 3 weeks so I need to get the parts ordered and ready to go before I do this thing. rockauto.com is my friend.

 

Sucks...I think im going to have to replace mine as well. I have drips from there as well. Got any part #'s on higher flow pumps?

 

Mine leaks as well. Drips wherever I go and that thing has coated my engine/transmission both. When I have my transmission rebuilt, I'm going to have the transmission guy replace my rear main.

 

There was one at Rock Auto:

SEALED POWER Part # 2244166V
High Volume, check pan for clearance


Rock auto ain't exactly the best place to check part specs. So here's a little more info, looks like it isn't a direct bolt in:
http://www.campbellenterprises.com/s..._oil_pumps.htm

 

melling high flow and standard replacement are about the same price. first instinct says to go with the high flow, as more is probably better. my parts store didn't carry the melling, so i just went with what they had.

my rear main seal was a 2 piece felpro brand. it wasn't expensive. as far as getting it out, you need to remove the rear cap, and then loosen the others a little. once they are loose, the top half of the seal taps out easily, and the new one slides in. don't be afraid to loose the caps up, otherwise, you can't get the new seal in without damaging it. it should just slide in and around the crank pretty as you please. there is a right and a wrong direction. be sure to put it in the right way. then retorque mains per haynes or service manual.

new oil pan gasket was pretty expensive, 30-40-50 dollars. i used a light coat of rtv on the front and rear curved pieces. i don't know if that was necessary, but it seemed like a good idea, and it hasn't leaked yet. it takes an extra pair of hands to position the oil pan and gasket. its just sort of big and heavy and awkward. it does slide in/out easily without raising the engine.

try to get the oil pan off without removing dust cover and starter. maybe i just didn't do it right. removing starter is a pain. two bolts - one is a bolt and the other is a nut on a stud. you'll appreciate the stud when you see how heavy the starter it is. mine were supertight and required a few 1/2" drive extensions to get the bad *** breaker bar out beyond the starter and other clutter to where i could really pull on it. the starter elec connector is also a pain. the best way i found to work with it was to remove starter, lay it on my chest, disconnect the elect, and the crawl out with it. install is reverse effort.

if you have to remove starter and dust cover, consider notching the top of the dust cover so it will slide in/out behind a loosened starter. it will make it easier for next time. pay close attention to the way the dust cover and oil pan hook together. i got that wrong and had to remove the dust cover a second or third time. also, to get the flex plate over the starter stud, you have to sort of bend the dust cover. be careful it doesnt bend in the middle and cause it to hit the flex plate. i had a lot of troble with this part of the job, and just had that feeling that since i was having so much trouble, that i just wasn't doing it right.

end result... nice. this is the first time i've ever had a vehicle that didn't leak oil.

 

I just did this procedure yesterday, its pretty much exactly like the pavementsucks.com article. If you have a transmission cooler the hardlines get in the way. The hardest part for me was getting the old sela out - it did not want to budget even after I loosened the first three sets of bearing caps. I would suggest hitting it with a round pin-type object cause my flathead screwdriver cut into the seal while the phillips wouldn't stay on target. It was hairy for a few minutes until it finally started to move.

Here's a tip to avoid ruining the seal as you put it in (like I did and had to run to store to get another): with a flathead or similar tool, push the seal radially inward towards the crank to compress the lips of the seal so that it can fit into the slot. While pushing toward the crank gently push on the other end of the seal to rotate it into position. Hard to describe, but if you just try to force it in there you'll end up cutting the seal and obviously that's not good. The edge of the slot on my block was very sharp.

I also did the extra step of putting assembly lub on crank bearing on the cap that you removed. The article didn't mention this step, but after I cleaned the bearing cap of any debris it seemed to be very dry and not what I wanted to see. So I put some engine assembly lub on it. You should also oil the main seal before putting in.

I ordered the seal from rock auto, it was a Timkin. The replacement I got from the store was FelPro. The two looked identical. There was no white strip on either one that I saw like the article suggest (maybe the Mopar part has one) but the seal does have a definite front and back. I installed the new seal the same way the original seal was.

I thought about getting the Melling Hi-Volume pump until I saw another device at NAPA that was for reducing high oil pressure caused byt he hi-volume pump. So I opted not to go that route.

I ran the truck up to temperature today and about 5 miles on the road. No leaks that I can see, 40+ psi oil pressure (don't forget to prime the pump before installing). Hopefully it will turn out to be the right decision to perform that much open-heart surgery on the motor, as I am always worried about doing things like this.

I also bought a new oil pump screen/pickup. The old one was probably re-usable but the new Melling one has a larger screen area and I figured I really don't want to do this again one day for a clogged screen.

 

melling high vol oil pump at autozone. part number M-72HV $38
http://tinyurl.com/3agzuq

felpro rear main. part number BS40181 $15
http://tinyurl.com/3bwbom

 

I was thinking high flow might be the way to go also, but not if I'm going to have to manipulate the pan or buy a new one to make it work. I was also concerned that more expensive oil filters might be needed to compensate for the increased flow. I'm not concerned with blowing out a seal anywhere, as it's only supposed to be increased volume, not pressure.

vaughan, did you see anywhere if the melling pump required an altered pan?

 

i did not, but since i didn't actually use it, i can't say for sure.
my gut instinct is that autozone wouldn't list it and sell it if it didn't fit cleanly.

 

Well, highlander, now you got me worried about pressure. Probably just go stock at this point. Did you have to take off the starter or dust cover when you changed it? Good catch about the screen, might as well do it once.

I'm thinking about crawling under there and hitting those bolts with a little PB blaster a few days in advance. I'll also pick up a couple of rear main seals and return the one I don't use if I don't need it. I'll be stuck for the day with no vehicle if I screw up, so better to be safe than sorry and have everything I need.

BTW, about how long did it take both of you to do this?