2.7T (BEL) engine rear main seal question

[Joshua Van Tol]

On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 11:53 PM, urq <urq at pacbell.net> wrote:

> There's no question about it, the reason the factory supplies the RMS
> pre-mounted in the plate is to avoid the likelihood that someone would
> accidentally push the replacement seal through the plate and then reuse it,
> causing the likelihood of another RMS leak in the near future.  Too bad
> they
> didn't build the plate with a lip that would prevent the seal from pushing
> all the way through ... go figure.  If you are going to DIY the seal
> without
> the replacement plate I'd recommend removing the plate from the block and
> replacing the seal on the bench.  Yes, you will need to replace the gasket
> between the plate and the block this way, but it is way too easy to
> accidentally push the seal through the hole if you try to do it in situ.
>

Yeah, I'm sure that's done good things for their warranty numbers on seal
replacement. I'll probably remove the plate as you suggest. I've had good
luck in the past when a gasket wasn't available with adding a very light
smear of anaerobic sealant to the surface and re-assembling. Actually Saab
discontinued a bunch of gaskets for their older engines, and the
instructions from them was to replace them with anaerobic sealant.