Crankshaft oil seal

I refitted my rebuilt engine only to discover an oil leak from the crankshaft seal, I’ve dropped the engine again, hoping to find something obvious causing the leak. The seal looks fine with just a trace of oil on it, there’s oil on the back of the flywheel as you would expect. The spring appears to still be inside the seal. The flywheel has a fine red line where the seal sits (red elring seal). from memory, I may not have oiled the seal before fitting the flywheel. I’m assuming the dry mating surfaces could have damaged the lip of the seal- it’s the only reason I can think would cause a leak any thoughts?

 

There shouldnt be oil on either side. Sounds like its caught when started as not oiled. Did you swap the O ring as well ?

 

^this. Certainly shouldn't be oil on the back of the flywheel.

 

A dry seal could have burnt in a few hundred revs. Hence the red deposit on the flywheel.

 

no-didn’t know there was one, where does it go?

 

Yea- I meant you would expect it due to the leak

 

ok- didn’t know it was in there, I’ll put it on my shopping list.

 

On closer inspection today it would appear that I have a bigger problem than the crankshaft seal- the oil appears to be coming from the join between the engine casings below the seal.

 

From the cam plug?

 

Yes around the plug but there also seems to be oil in the join above, between the crankshaft seal and the cam plug. I’ve cleaned all the oil off and am just waiting for the leak to appear again probably by tomorrow, so I can see exactly where it’s coming from. Can the cam plug be re-sealed?

 

Not without splitting the case, really.

 

i think I’ll just replace the seal and leave it- really can’t be @rsed stripping the engine again, I’ll just put a tray under the bus and top up the oil now and again.

 

Did you take the engine to bits? Can’t remember.

 

Not fully, I just removed the barrels and heads, the block was never split. There was oil all over the back of the block behind the flywheel so I assumed it was the seal. There’s oil on the back of the flywheel now so I’m assuming that the new seal is leaking aswell.

 

Can you see any sealant around the cam plug? Just a bit of squeeze out?

What state is the boss of your flywheel in? Any grooves?

 

I’ve seen success with this stuff on odd leaks

https://www.towsure.com/captain-tol...JU12RTAF7zjy0vzfv9HGJDYJwl7-sAMhoCudkQAvD_BwE

 

yes just black sealant round the plug. The flywheel boss is good- there was just a black mark from the original seal- cleaned it with scotchbrite- came up like new.

 

Most odd. Can you actually run the engine up to get some oil moving?

 

Yea I thought about some sort of leak repair additive….. I’ll probably just see how it goes, if it gets any worse, I’ll have to bite the bullet and strip the motor down.