I have heard that some are naf, I did a search and some were saying that the Victor Reinz ones are too thin and leak, I have always rated their stuff!! Any recomendations of a good seal??
Crank seals will do badly if you have a scored groove in the flywheel and you push it in so it hits the groove. Pushing it in less or further avoids the groove. Push it in slightly crooked and it will leak. A lot of end float.. it may leak.. Make sure new one is well oiled as it goes in. Moral: some flywheels will leak with a perfectly good seal.
Elring and Victor Reinz seals are fine but there is nothing special about them. What’s more important is the size and VW parts suppliers usually list one seal for a Type 4 - 75x95x10mm – however; the depth of the recess in the case can be 10mm or 12mm deep. I use a double lip Viton seal if the depth is 12mm, this one: http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/Se...Oil Seal with Garter Spring/product_info.html
I have taken a risk on the elring as I could do with freeing up the ramp once the engine is out, I had heard about the size difference with the seals and the fact that the V Reinz one had had some issues, I think that is 10mm , I didnt know that the flywheels were different. Mine is a flex plate, same plate for all autos including T25 so I would imagine 12mm but will measure it when I get it out, I had already ordered mine before your post but will have a look at the one in your link and get one in as I will change the seals every engine out. That said you can live with a little leak on an Auto as the clutch is not an issue. Ask me how I know!!!!
It’s the depth of the recess in the crankcase that can be 10mm or 12mm from one engine to another. Elring and Victor Reinz seals will be the same if the same size – and all the ones I’ve seen being sold for a type 4 are 75x95x10mm. You can fit a narrow (10mm) seal in a deep (12mm) recess so one seal will fit all engines but you can’t fit a wide seal in a shallow recess. You also need to check that the seal doesn’t ride up on the radius of the flywheel – I guess the flex plate has a similar radius.
Sorry, I don’t understand, what do you think are the same and can be swapped from what to what? If you’ve bought an Elring seal for a Type 4 it will be 75x95x10mm and will fit any type 4 engine whether Porsche 914, VW 411, 412, T2 or T25, manual or auto, 1700, 1800 or 2.0l. But then so would a Victor Reinz, or any other 75x95x10mm seal.
These seals are all lip seals. The bit that does the work is about 1mm wide underneath the springy garter ring, furthest into the engine, where the spring applies pressure. If you use a 10mm wide seal it can go in deeper into the hole if you need to avoid a groove in the flywheel.
Mine is also an auto with flex plate. Does anyone know if an o ring as well as the seal is reqd. As with a std flywheel. Mine didn’t have one when I removed it.
It’s not shown in the Bentley manual but if there is a groove in the flex plate I’d say there should be an O-ring. Without an O-ring there is nothing to stop oil leaking across the end of the crankshaft.
I thought the seal stopped the oil leaking. Puzzled trying to visualise the o ring in relation to the seal.
The lip seal is on the outside of the flywheel/flex plate, the O-ring stops oil passing under the flywheel/flex plate and across the end of the crankshaft. Find a drawing and have a look.
This is not a type 4 but it shows the oil seal on the OD of the flywheel and the stationary O-ring in the bore. Without the O-ring oil can bypass the lip seal.
