Rear main seal question?

[Alaskakid87]

Can anyone tell me or point me in the right direction to see how much of a pain this process can be? When the transmission shop rebuilt and reinstalled my tranny they didn't replace the seal well as they should have it is now leaking a lot at highway speed.. The bad part of all this is my exhaust is right below the leak! Please help me and whether I can conquer it myself with all of our tools in the garage or bring it back to the trans shop! Thanks

 

[SoHK_alumni]

Renting a transmission jack helps make the job easier but it's a true pain of a job.

With the 5.0, things are tight and getting to the bolts that hold the transmission to the engine, the right down pipe and trans fill tube is tough.

Still, no way I'd pay for the labor and would do it myself.

 

[lobo411]

Try Bars Leak Rear Main Seal repair. I'm not sure if this did the trick, but mine stopped leaking after I used it. I used to commute 300 mi r/t one day a week and I'd lose 1/4-1/3 qt on the run, with lots of oil streaming out behind me. I left the product in for about 900 or 1200 miles (3-4 trips), then I did two oil changes with regular oil because I didn't want to leave a stop leak product in there.

The leak did stop. I also got a new car and stopped driving this one so hard, but I still use it for moderate-range highway driving (10-50 miles) and it hasn't leaked since. Before I used the rear main repair, it would leak a few tablespoons even on a 5 mile highway trip.

Can't hurt might help IMO.

 

[Alaskakid87]

Renting a transmission jack helps make the job easier but it's a true pain of a job.

With the 5.0, things are tight and getting to the bolts that hold the transmission to the engine, the right down pipe and trans fill tube is tough.

Still, no way I'd pay for the labor and would do it myself.

Will do on the jack end! And I can definitely second the no room thing. But I was also thinking during all of this I also have a lifted problem so either I fix the rear main seal or just pull the motor and try my luck that way because I also need to change out my rusty leaking manifolds!! But I do know I need to fix these issues soon thanks for the idea of the jack!!

 

[Alaskakid87]

Try Bars Leak Rear Main Seal repair. I'm not sure if this did the trick, but mine stopped leaking after I used it. I used to commute 300 mi r/t one day a week and I'd lose 1/4-1/3 qt on the run, with lots of oil streaming out behind me. I left the product in for about 900 or 1200 miles (3-4 trips), then I did two oil changes with regular oil because I didn't want to leave a stop leak product in there.

The leak did stop. I also got a new car and stopped driving this one so hard, but I still use it for moderate-range highway driving (10-50 miles) and it hasn't leaked since. Before I used the rear main repair, it would leak a few tablespoons even on a 5 mile highway trip.

Can't hurt might help IMO.

Hmm I have never heard of that repair kit but I will try and look around for it up here thanks!!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

first thing is do you feel comfortable doing this kind of thing? r&r'ing the trans is basically the same for everything. the biggest PITA (and you would have to do it if you pulled the motor anyway) is the bolt for the trans dip stick. there is only one wire connector that you have to undo that is on the drivers side. you can get the trans and transfer case out in one shot, i dont know how hard it is to put them in at the same time however. also, if you can tilt the back of the trans down, it makes getting at all the bell housing bolts WAY easier.

 

[masospaghetti]

My 2 cents.

I removed and replaced the trans on my 4.0/5-speed manual. Maybe with the proper jack it wouldn't be too bad, but I wouldn't want to try anything heavier than what I did with just a regular floor jack. As it is, the manual trans is really heavy, and the 4R70W is much heavier.

You need to drain the trans and TC, pull the front and rear driveshafts, drop the transfer case (not hard, you probably can man-handle this one - I did), drop the exhaust crossovers (may be difficult because of corrosion and because of the passenger side inner bolt, very difficult to access), drop the cross member, then remove the bell housing bolts.

Why not go back to the transmission shop and confront them? The evidence is obvious that they didn't do a good job, maybe they'll give you a lower price at least.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

and the 4R70W is much heavier.

fun fact

myself, my 18 year old son, and one other member here had to lift one in my truck just recently (truck was on the lift, and couldnt find the retainers to safely use a trans jack...like lifting it into place wasnt by any means safe...). i took a old 4r70w that i had kicking around here for scrap. what was the weight?

210lbs!!!!

 

[SoNic67]

I would definitely try the Stop Leak first.
The transmission shop will say that the seal is part of the engine and, unless you specifically ask them to do it, they will charge you for labor again.

I had luck with Blue Devil Oil Stop Leak.

 

[Flash]

If you do use a stop leak I know the Barr's stuff works.