Hi friendly folks of the forum,

 

  I really boneheaded an easy job replacing cam  and front crank seals today. Instead of reading and watching the proper videos, I took it upon myself to install al the seals to deep! I bottomed them all out

instead of seating them even with the surfaces. They were installed that way with a bunch of permatex

around each seal........then after cleaning and buying Subaru Stealership gaskets I installed them incorrectly. Bah Humbug!!!  I don't believe that I could back them out without damage soooooo back to the

Stealership I guess. I do have some Jago seals but they are probably Chinese.

 Miles Fox has a video I should have watched BEFORE I did the deed.

what did you learn?

UH, Do more research BEFORE I tackle a new Subaru repair.

 

Also it costs more when I screw up, both time and money.

Edited February 22, 201313 yr by CrankyAl

Live and learn!! It was George Harrison that said "With every mistake, we must surely be learning".

 

Well, reading the forum in the past, I have read many times to look how the old seals were installed

and install the new ones the same......so I did. Who ever worked on the engine before installed the seals

deep like I did thats why I installed them the same way. Even bottomed out they are only about a 16th of

an inch lower than the lip, but I watched a video from Miles Fox that stated if you bottom them out it cuts

off an oil hole or something of that nature. They also were coated on the outer edges with permatex, and

that I why I posted an earlier question about using some kind of sealant when installing the new seals.

You have to check the design of the seal pocket you are installing any given seal into in order to determine how the seal should be set. With the older Subaru stuff (pre-2000) you generally set them flush with the casting and not to the full depth of the pocket to avoid covering the oil return hole provided for draining away excess oil. 

 

As for treating the edges of the seal - clean oil on the lip and nothing on the OD. These are rubber coated seals and do not require a sealant. If the seal fits too loosely I will often use a smear of loctite 248 - which is just the glue stick version of 242. It holds like a demon on the OD of seals. Often when attempting to remove them they tear half the rubber off the OD of the seal due to loctite bond. It's impressive. 

 

GD