Front seal leak- 318

[69bronzeT5]

Seems the front seal is gone on my Duster. Has a very steady drip on the ground when it's running. Bottom of the alternator, front of the motor and balancer all have oil spray on them. Generally speaking, what all needs to be taken off to replace the front seal?

[Rolling_Thunder]

The front seal - By this I assume you mean the crank seal?   If so you will need to do....

1. remove crank pulley
2. remove alternator bracket / power steering bracket
3. Remove radiator hoses
4. Remove water pump
5. Remove timing chain cover
6. Remove seal from timing chain cover

I do not remember if you need to loosen the oil pan or not to get the timing chain cover off of a SB

[resq302]

Couple things could have happened.  The seal in the timing cover could have went bad OR you could have developed a groove in the balancer where the seal rides on.  If you get a timing cover gasket kit, make sure it comes with a thin metal repair sleeve to slide over the balancer.  I had that happen to us with our 70 el camino.  The groove was pretty nasty in the balancer and the repair sleeve fixed it right up!

[djcarguy]

  if careful you can change the seal with out removing the timing cover and front of engine..raise car,remove radiator and crank pully and change seal,,carefully from below.  good luck