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Taking a closer look at the rear main seal leak and you can easily see how severe this car really was. The area around the crank is not only saturated with oil but as seen in the two pictures, there is clutch dust everywhere! |
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As we look below the main seal and the crank you can see the degree of oil that had leaked from the seal over one of the transmission case bolts and eventually over the balance shaft cover. Just look at the sludge build up! |
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A more head on image of the crankshaft end and the main seal. Notice how clean the end of the crank is. The next image shows us with a removed case bolt underneath the RMS to make removal and re-install of the seal much easier. |
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A more head on view of the balance shaft covers 3 bolts and the transmission case bolt right beneath the RMS. |
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A full shot of the main case. If you look closely you can see the 4 case bolts, the rms, and the 3 balance shaft cover bolts that need to be replaced. |
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This next image shows the top of the engine case. If you look closely you can see the top case bolt that needs to be replaced and the starters ring gear. I was amazed to see the starter on the engine side of the car instead of the transmission! The next image shows another full shot of the engine case. |
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More pictures of the rms from the side. The balance shaft cover took the most punishment as it sits directly beneath the rms! |
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The next few steps are to be done with full patience and concentration. We took a pic and slowly started cleaning around the rms seal getting the debris out of the cracks so the seal would come out easier. Take your time here! |
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Once you clean up the area with a pic, gently deform the old rms so you can get behind it and slowly pull it out. WARNING! Unlike other vehicles, the rear main on a 996 does not have a stop behind it, if you push too hard on the seal and it goes backwards it will fall inside the engine! Watch out! |
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So there it is, the rms removed from around the crank. Since I had just recently changed the oil in the car I was expecting a gush of oil to come out once the seal was removed but to my surprise it was dry. Make sure no debris gets into the exposed RMS area! |
