Hey everyone,
When I bought my ’06 (2.5L non-turbo) a few years ago, I had the crankshaft oil seals replaced with the head gaskets. There had always been a small oil leak, but it was so infrequent that I thought I had just spilled a little each time I changed the oil. Well, the leak got worse and worse, and finally during a diagnostic for something else, the dealer mechanic told me that the crankshaft oil seal was leaking really bad. So I changed it myself this time, and that was definitely the source of the leak. It stopped leaking for about two weeks, and is now (slowly) leaking again. It’s very easy to tell where it’s leaking by looking at the cam cover.
So my question is, why could this happen again?
Since the seals seemed to fail so early both times, the only things I can think of are:
When I bought my ’06 (2.5L non-turbo) a few years ago, I had the crankshaft oil seals replaced with the head gaskets. There had always been a small oil leak, but it was so infrequent that I thought I had just spilled a little each time I changed the oil. Well, the leak got worse and worse, and finally during a diagnostic for something else, the dealer mechanic told me that the crankshaft oil seal was leaking really bad. So I changed it myself this time, and that was definitely the source of the leak. It stopped leaking for about two weeks, and is now (slowly) leaking again. It’s very easy to tell where it’s leaking by looking at the cam cover.
So my question is, why could this happen again?
Since the seals seemed to fail so early both times, the only things I can think of are:
- That the gearbox/camshaft was scratched by me or the previous mechanic (not playing the blame game – I don’t really care who it would be)
- The bushings are just rubbish – I suspect the previous mechanic used OEM, and I definitely didn’t – I used SKF, but I made sure the diameters matched the specs before I bought.
I was careful when removing the old seal not to scratch the cover or camshaft, and applied a very thin coat of oil (for the Haynes manual) to the inside of the seal and used a socket to tap the seal and made sure it was seated completely. Installation seemed simple enough.
So my questions are:
I know a scratch is definitely a possibility/likelihood, but assuming it isn’t, what are the odds that simply replacing the seal back to OEM will fix the problem?
More importantly, is there something I missed while installing the seal?
Sorry for the novel, just wanted to make sure any relevant information was covered. Thank you in advance!
