Rear main seal

[Kenneth Keith]

Kneale Brownson <kneale at coslink.net> wrote:
>
> I originally planned to replace the rear main seal as part of the throwout
> bearing/clutch replacement.  But looking at the Bentley, I'd have to get
> some additional new parts, namely new flywheel bolts, new needle bearing,
> as well as some more tools I don't have yet.  I see no sign of rear main
> seal leakage.  This car has ~130K miles.  Is rear main seal replacement
> necessary?

Imagine how you would feel after going through the trouble to pull the
tranny to have the rear seal start whistling (sucking in air) any time
the clutch pedal is not depressed, which happens.  Worse yet, if the
seal started leaking and ruined your new clutch and all the labor was
wasted.  It's preventative maintenance, IMO.

For the cost of the seal, I would certainly replace it.  I don't think
the flywheel bolts are quite as necessary and I would feel comfortable
reusing them, assuming you put fresh blue locktite on them.  The
needle bearing I would replace too, but I might feel comfortable
leaving that alone and just replacing the seal.  It's not hard to do.
The hardest part is the tranny R&R and that's already happening.  I
say stick with your original plan.  Seal pullers are cheap if you need
to buy one.  Factor in the labor cost savings by doing it yourself,
and if you have to, sell the seal puller on Ebay afterwards.

Cheers,

Ken, wanting to replace my rear-ended pearl 200q20v with another one
to keep the dream alive...