I put in a donor junk yard motor on my 93 legacy, so I figured I'd replace all the seals... I put in a ne wmain seal, the old seal was flush with the back of the engine housing, when I tapped the new seal in it seated about an inch behind where the old one was. Now once the engine was back in and stard , oils everywhere all over the torque convertor and flex plate etc. So now that the engine has to come out again I assume the darn seal just gets pushed in until the outer seal and the surrounding metal aref are flush??????

it was the rear main and since it was put in a good inch farther back than it should have been (chilton manual sucks) can I just put a new on in over the bad one as long as it is flush with the housing, or do I have to get in deep somehow and fish the old one out. I'm assuming the one I put in too deep is not on a sealing surface of the crank (looked like a tight fit against the crank when I seated it ).

I would take it out. You can't be careful enough pulling that out of there. Even the smallest scratch on the wall of the block (where the seal SHOULD seat) could cause a leak.

 

-Heikki

yeah I'd recommend pulling it out, and yeah it's just supposed to be flush with the rear of the crank.

 

Like this

 

http://www.surrealmirage.com/subaru/images/swap/11/DCP_3275.JPG

http://www.surrealmirage.com/subaru/images/swap/11/DCP_3274.JPG

Well, now that I've calmed down, how do I fish out the seal if it's way back there? probably a hook bent onto the end of a coat hanger? And do I grease or oil the new seal? someone said not to put anything inside the lip, to me that's too dry.

but if you can't drill a hole in it and insert a sheet metal screw to pull on. Be carefull to clean all bits up after.

thanks for the tip, I'm hoping all will go well. That darn Chilton manual is a piece of junk, few pictures, many drawings. If I had a picture to look at I would have known the problem before putting it all toghether. I'm assuming the seal (being to deep) didn't seal and the oil just blew by. Is there a better online service manual available? Is the haynes manual better than Chiltons.

Just be careful pulling that seal out. The way I usually get seals out is jab a small screwdriver in the sealing surface of the seal at a 90 degree of the shaft. However with that in so deep, I'm not sure it would work. If you had one of those pick things, you might be able to snag the seal enough to pull it out some.

 

This is only the engine & engine electrical sections of the fsm, but probably a lot better then what you have.

 

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru_manual_scans/1992_FSM_(Engine_%26_Electrical)/

 

There's various other misc scans here

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru_manual_scans

Got it out, thanks for everyone's advice. I got a brown subaru seal from the dealer (vs. 23 bucks for the napa one I used earlier) It was a real tight fitting seal that did not want to go in, I put it in just where the bevel ended. It came with a clear grease between the lips, I added a bit more and put it in. NOW another Boo-boo (it never ends). see my other post about this boo-boo.