dogturd21

I have a minor oil leak on the front of my Gen 6 454 - 2000. I am pretty sure its coming from the oil seal at the harmonic balancer (dampner). This may have been caused by a water leak that dripped down to the balancer, and rust might have caused some damage to the oil seal. Otherwise the engine is is great shape- the causes for the water leak have been fixed long ago...
- So, in replacing that oil seal- if I have to remove the timing cover, can that be done without dropping the pan? I have another Gen 6 engine in my garage that I am starting a rebuild on, and based on the way that timing cover was on the block it seems like the pan has to be removed before the timing cover can come off. I am hoping this is NOT true - that the cover can be removed without touching the pan. I want to get all my ducks in a row before I tackle this job- I have only done seals / timing chains / covers on small blocks before...

tunertech

you can actually replace the seal without removing the pan or the timing cover you just have to have the tools and room to work with.

dogturd21

doing some searching of the archives seems to indicate that IF the cover has to be removed, then I have to drop the pan as well. But if its just a oil seal, then it can be done with cover in place. Does this statement appear correct ?

GPM

Yes

badluck

The seal can be replaced without removing the cover, provided that you have enough space in front of the engine to pull out the balancer.
Since you suspect that water caused the leak, check the balancer carefully for grooves or pitting. If it is damaged, you can press on a sleeve (cheap and works well).

Young Performance

As mentioned, if you just need to replace the timing cover seal, then you can do it with the timing cover still installed. If you have to remove the cover for whatever reason, then you must drop the front of the pan. If the balancer has a groove in it from the seal, or any other reason (like rust), you can use a seal saver to fix it. Most auto parts stores carry them. It's a very thin sleeve that gets pressed on the balancer. You put it on with Loctite and knock it on with a hammer and a block of wood, if you don't have a hydraulic press. Good luck.
Eddie

dogturd21

I have seen the seal savers in other gasket kits I used previously: but I have access to a decent machine shop that I figure would charge about $50-75 to turn my harmonic balancer if there was a groove: would this be a better job than the seal saver ? - in checking on Jegs I found that new balancers are about $80 or so. Twice in past years I used Fluidampr parts, but they are over $400 now

badluck

I would go with the sleeve. If you turn the balancer down to remove the groove, there is a risk that the seal will not seal properly due to the smaller diameter of the balancer.

FIXX

iTrader: (2)

all above..when installing the seal before you install it pack the back side with grease,if you look close at the seal theirs a tiny spring that goes around the inside that keeps pressure on the sealing surface.so when you pack it with greace will keep the spring from falling out.when i install them i have a piece of pvy plastic that is as big as the outside of the seal..i wedge the seal in place then i use my harmonic ballancer tool (you will need to rent one also so you dont hurt yhe thrust bearing when installing the ballabcer) ok that tool with the pvc spacer and a washer i made to fit the ballancer press and press on the seal..works great and never f'ed one up..to get the seal out i have a mini dent puller i use, a short screw wil work to pry it out..make sure you grease the sael and the seal saver..now those can be a b itch to put on,they bend real easy and i would not replace the harmonic unless it is exactly the same one..

mcollinstn

Don't machine the groove out. Use a seal saver. Quicker, cheaper, and delivers better result. That's a win/win/win. Also, be careful not to gouge your crank snout with tools when prying out the old seal. Of course, if you do gouge it, the seal saver fixes that too.

MC