Seal on your timing cover? Aren't they RTV?

 

Front crank seal. It's just pressed in the timing cover.

 

So after giving it 16psi the seal isn't leaking and it stayed in place. Hopefully i won't have to change it out because getting that crank pulley off is a nightmare.

here is a pic of the seal before i pressed it back into the timing cover.

 

i just gave up and went and bought a $100 husky compressor from home depot just for the crank pulley. granted i already had a old 450 ft lb IR impact gun.

 

I have a 1000ftlb snap on impact gun but that requires me to remove the whole front end and radiator. At this point i'm not really wanting to do that. Once i get a second hand over to the house I'm going to just redneck it by using a breaker bar and the cars starter. Done it quite a few times but someone has to hold the breaker bar steady against the floor.

That is IF i need to replace the seal. So far it's holding oil no problem.

 

Unless there is actual damage to the seal, there is no reason for it to let go, provided there is no pressure build up back there. I think you will be fine.

 

ya, i think so too. I think it coming out of the timing cover is a good indication that it has a proper seal with the crank pulley.

If i would have thought twice before i pressed it back into place i would have put rtv on the outside of the seal like I did when i installed it to give it just a little more hold. Either way it held 16psi last night with no issues.

 

would it be possible for the main seal to leak under boost and the seal still be ok and not need replaced? i ask because i have an oil leak somewhere that i cant pin point but after reading this thread i suspect the front main seal because im doing about 15psi and im still on stock pcv system because i havent figured out where i want to mount my catch can (not much room with a vortech).

Just wondering if it is the main seal, could just installing the catch can and drilling out the pcv valve fix the leak? Or does the seal probably need replaced?

 

Once the seal loses a good connection to the crank pulley it will only get worse over time. It might only be leaking during boost now due to slight back pressure but eventually it will just start legging all the time as it wears out further. I would replace it if that is the source of the leak.

having open breathers (or going to a catch can with open breathers) will reduce crank pressure but it won't fix the seal.

 

Do you think an oversized ATI superdampr could cause the seal to go bad? I know ppl have had problems with the aluminum underdrive pulleys but have not heard anything bad about the superdampr.

 

The only time a pulley will damage the seal is if the surface of the pulley that contacts the seal isn't properly machined or has been damaged (scratched or has a bur). I had the seal fail on the dyno with the stock pulley and haven't had troubles with my ATI.

Seals just wear out. That engine is spinning the pulley in the seal a lot of times so it's going to wear out. Could have been damaged while installing your ATI as well. Also, only use the nissan seal. The aftermarket ones are crappy and don't last. The felpro one I had in the car failed only after a few hundred miles while it was on the dyno.

 

Well good news for me, the oil isnt coming from the main seal. It is running down from the drivers side cam phaser cover.

 

Well easy fix, pull it off and put a new gasket in. Could be valve cover seal in that area as well.