Rear Main Seal Leak on 96 Explorer XLT

[96]

Hi Folks,
Been noticing oil on the driveway in the morning, Had the truck to my mechanic and today he advised me the leak is coming from the rear main seal. HE said the only way to fix it is to take the engine and transmission out . Im a little upset because I just had it in the shop as I had 2 new cylender heads installed, head gasket and water pump.
Mechanic advised me its perfectly safe to run however but i would just have to keep check oil levels etc. Has anyone had similar issues? Id so, what did you guys do?
Thanks for your help....

 

[yellow coupe]

I have dealt with a lot of rear main seal leaks. To put a new seal in you either have to pull the engine or the transmission to get to it. I have a rear main seal leak on my Mountaineer also. Just keep a check on the oil level. It would have to be leaking pretty bad before I would put a new seal in.

 

[96]

thanks,

 

[bluestream1]

Try some of the high mileage 10w30 oils. They have seal swell additives that may help the leak. These oil are made from a high quality base oil and have a more robust addative package so they are acyuallt better oils

 

[2000StreetRod]

Rear mail sealer

I had a very slow rear main seal leak when I purchased my Sport last year with 150,000 miles on the odometer. There are a few manufacturers of engine oil additives that are supposed to reduce/eliminate main seal leaks. I tried one of the them for several months before switching to synthetic oil and it seemed to reduce the leak. However, the leak resumed with the synthetic. When my rear timing chain guide failed I decided to pull the engine and fix it and the rear main. When I removed the valve covers I found an excessive amount of sludge. I don't know the maintenance history of my vehicle but I can't help but wonder if some of the sludge was due to the leak reducer.

 

[bluestream1]

StreetRod, not likely the seal swell additive caused the sludge, and if you only used it for a few months, it would not have done a thing. There is too little of it in the oil to make a difference. More likley the sludge is from using conventional oil and long OCI. Poor mantainence practices in other words...

 

[cruz38]

Oci?

I think its incorrect to say that the leak is could be caused by poor or irregular maintenance.. I changed my oil every 3000 miles from the day I bought it and I have this same leak..
Just wear and tear and mileage....is my opinion.

Cruz

 

[marragtop]

Made sure the PCV valve isn't stuck. That can cause the oil to seep at the rear seal. It's worth a shot.