Another attempt at a rear main seal leak

[69wannabe]

Well I finally got the charger running good and driving good and of course the rear main seal is leaking again. It has always had a drip or two here and there and I just lived with it but lately it's leaving a pretty good spot on the concrete and it's enough to annoy me so i'm gonna give it another stab I guess. Ron sent me a link that was very helpful with some great info about it and something I haven't tried yet so that is the plan soon. The other thread say's to put the seal halves in at the 12 o clock and 6 o clock position to align the holder and seal. I'm gonna pull the engine out to do this so I can put it on a stand and really get a good view of it. Got a few other thing's to get going before I jump into this little project but it's on the to do list. Got a jeep I bought last year with a busted block and got another engine put together for it and just got it in but that's far as I am with it since my sister's dodge truck just laid down wednesday with a bad clutch and I had to take a day off from work to get the old clutch out and put a new one in and get it back going since it's her only vehicle. Wasn't a bad job since it is a full size truck and it took me about 2 1/2 hours to tear it down and about the same to put it back together with 2 hrs in between to get the flywheel surfaced. Always something I guess...

[LowDeck451]

Have you heard (or anyone else for that matter) about certain boat motors that rotate opposite of automotive motors, and if one of these crankshafts find it's way into an automotive application, the rear main seal will never stop leaking? I guess it's the way the diagonal lines on the main seal journal of the crank are cut (opposite). This happened to a buddy of mine awhile back, fought a rear main leak until the machine shop took the motor back and discovered what had happened. News to me!

[69wannabe]

I have heard that and I will look at that when I decide to yank the engine and go for another attempt at it. Got some fi tech issues lately and am going to have to check into that problem before I jump into the rear main seal leak...

[Challenger340]

The biggest problem I have experienced with BB Mopars is that they were all originally equipped with ROPE rear main seals...
hence,
the "groove" in the Block that holds the rear main is NOT concentric with the mains. It didn't have to be for a factory rope seal because the rope would expand against the crank on the sloppy side and seal anyways.....
but,
when using any of the neoprene rear mains ?
A guy has to be very careful to OBSERVE which side of the seal is compressed against the Crank when in the groove.... and conversely, which side of the seal is NOT contacting the Crank sufficiently for good sealing.
Offsetting the seal from the parting line slightly on what I call the "offending"(non contacting) side.... then prying the seal retainer over slightly with a screwdriver during installation (with an equally offset seal half), to drag the offending side into Crank contact..... works best for me.

I've only had to pull one BB Mopar back off the Dyno for a leaky main recently after 8-9 years(probably 60+ BB Mopars), so pretty good success record to still get a leak "one" every 8-9 years ?

[69wannabe]

What bothers me about the leak is that I had a stock steel 440 crank in this block before I went to the stroker crank and it didn't leak at all. Just swapping to the stroker rotating assembly and now the leak that never ends!! lol. Had something happen over driving it some this weekend that hasn't explained itself yet. Drove it to town and it ran fine but sat in the drive thru for about 15 mins and it got a little warm but really not hot and I noticed it was sputtering off idle. Figured it got a little hot but even going down the highway didn't seem to help it keep from cutting out at cruising speeds. I don't think the fi tech throttle body is very good at dealing with the heat of the engine and the heat of summer at the same time. This sputtering and stumbling really bothered me since I never had this issue with my old holley carb. After this wore on me all day long at work I decided to put my old holley back on today after work just to see if there is a problem with the fuel or if it might be something else. I took the holley apart and blew it out good and checked it out real good and put it back on and it seemed to run fine. Out on the road it was good and no sputtering with the carb cruising down the highway so I wonder what's up with the throttle body now that i'm sure it is a problem with it. Just my luck as usual but i'm glad I kept my old carb as a back up plan. The efi just doesn't seem solid to me, it has it's good points but I am almost certain it going to leave me stranded eventually. At least with the old carb I know what to expect out of it.