serious mistake on engine rebuild

[dillon1340]

I'll bet nobody here has screwed up as bad as i did today. i finally put my rebuilt engine in, got her all buttoned up, and started it and was happy. then go into my shop to get a cigarette and right there next to my lighter was the brand new shiny rear main seal. i was going to put it on after i got the engine off the assembly stand while it was on hoist. what a disappointment. thank you for letting me vent.

 

[FIND]

WOW that sucks. Rough when that kind of thing happens.

 

[jd4242]

Haha I've been there,not on my ex but I've done it.I now hang them on the back of the stand so when you pull the motor off the stand its right there haha my fist ex motor i built I put the heads on before I put the lifters in!!

 

[93 x]

that blows ive done stupid stuff like that before. on my sbc i forgot to put the lifters in then i put the intake on haha. i also know a guy who had a 04 neon srt4 model and he put nitrous on it went to the strip and poped that nos button and ka bang!!! he went home and tried to figure out what happened and saw his jets on the work bench! i think thats a bit worse ahah

 

[dillon1340]

i'm glad i'm not the only one then. that's why i posted it; i wanted to feel better. next time i'm making a checklist as i go.

 

[KobeJ05]

that sucks. that will totaly piss me off. oh well we all have our mistakes

 

[mrboyle]

At least it is something that can be taken care of relatively easy. I've done similar.

 

[dillon1340]

i'm gonna have to take the transmission out. that's not really the hardest job; i just don't want to do it.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

So what happened? Did the engine just gush out a bunch of oil at the rear of the crank?

 

[93 x]

yeaat first i thought you may have not put any oil in it then drove it. but ya did a bunch of oil just shoot out?? at least you didnt blow it like the guy i know. i make fun of him all the time hahah

 

[dillon1340]

it's not leaking much, just a slight dribble.

 

[Anime]

You SURE you didn't install ANOTHER seal?

You're going to need to vent again if you pull it apart and notice there IS a seal there.

 

[FIND]

i'm glad i'm not the only one then. that's why i posted it; i wanted to feel better. next time i'm making a checklist as i go.

Yeah, pretty much what I have to do usually.

 

[dillon1340]

lol. yeah there wasn't a seal in there because i had taken the engine apart to rebuild it. anyhow the new seal is in and i'm super happy with the way the engine runs now. no more steam out the tailpipe no more zero oil pressure at idle. i have a lift plate i made for the 4.0 that bolts to the lower intake if anyone needs one i have it listed in the classified section here.

 

[Vargas]

I spent most of my 4-cylinder days working on water cooled VW's. When faced with repairing GF's pos Escort I learned (the hard way, of course) that the distributor rotates the opposite direction. Also managed to overlook installation of the cam seal. Hated that car...

 

[JCat]

I rebuilt an engine that had a crack in a cylinder wall. I installed it only to have it overheat. I thought it was a head gasket.

It took me 2 teardowns before I figured it out.

 

[dillon1340]

lately i've been making mistakes. i think i'm getting old and senile. in my mustang i misaligned the oil pump drive shaft with the bottom of the distributor and when i started it no oil pressure. and on this explorer i rebuilt the trans then stood it on end to store it and the reverse band fell off and i didnt notice it until it was installed.

 

[jd4242]

I rebuilt an engine that had a crack in a cylinder wall. I installed it only to have it overheat. I thought it was a head gasket.

It took me 2 teardowns before I figured it out.

my motor for my x had a hairline crack in the oil passage way, in one of the brand new heads i put on.it drove me crazy and took me 3 tear downs to find,but the good thing is that every time i tore it down gave me a reason to do more work to it