346 Rear Seal

[autoluke]

Cadillac 346 in my recent purchase leaks like a sieve.

Will the replacement seal be an easy fix, or should i prepare for a major operation ?

[joeceretti]

Lot's of possible places for a leak. Which car do you have.. manual or automatic?

[autoluke]

Joe

A manual transmission.

Hope to remove the flywheel cover tomorrow for a closer look, and will post the details.

[Steve Passmore]

I presume thats a rear crankshaft leak?

[joeceretti]

Typical spots, flywheel cover, oil pan, at the bell housing, heads, at the top of the distributor tower and on the lifter covers... plus if it has a draft tube, most do, you will usually get dripping there

I am still getting a bit of oil occasionally out the top of the distributor tower and one spot on the lifter covers. Will deal with those this winter when I redo my lifters, again.

Removing the inspection cover will give you somewhat of an idea. The rear seal is typically a rope seal and is available from the seal mongers. How clean is the engine? Can you wipe off the oil and get a clearer idea of the source? Is the engine in a car? I assume not. Out of a car is easier to fix. If one seal is bad there is a good chance that multiple places are leaking.

[autoluke]

I had a good look today, and unfortunately the leak is coming from the rear seal.

I assume that this will require removal of the engine.

[joeceretti]

I believe so. It is practically impossible to get the bell housing off without removing the flywheel first.

[TMoore - NTCLC]

This can be done with the engine in the car, if you choose to do it that way - you only need to be able to drop the crank just a bit in order to get the seal in.  Search the forum more details, but here are a couple of sample posts - note that many are using the Mercedes part, but the standard rope seal process is the same:

http://forums.cadillaclasalleclub.org/index.php?topic=102132.msg128709#msg128709

http://forums.cadillaclasalleclub.org/index.php?topic=99978.msg135119#msg135119