My rear main seal or something back there is letting go pretty badly.

 

I guess I'm pulling the engine either this weekend or early next week.

 

How long should I expect it to take to pull the engine ('92 Loyale, with AC), pull it apart, replace the assorted seals, and get everything back together?

 

Also, should I replace the head gaskets? They don't seem to be leaking, but... it's going to be out of the car. It has 145k miles on it. If replacing the head gaskets is a fairly simple process, I may do it while it's out. If it's going to involve 10 hours of gasket scraping, I'm probably not interested.

 

Oh, and while I'm at it, how should I remove all the oil/grease/etc from the engine bay? It's... really bad.

 

-=Russ=-

I dont know, whats your mechanical apptitude? If you have pulled any EA engines before and worked on them, it shouldnt take more than a day +.

I wouldnt do the HG, but I would put on new timing belts, water pump and reseal the oil pump while it was out.

I just did the 3 fronts and rear seal on my EA82, and the actual seal replacement time is pretty small. There is a PVC pipe fitting, with one end for gluing and the other end with female threads for a threaded plug. The end designed to glue onto other PVC pipe fits nicely on the rear main seal. If you screw the plug into the pipe you can tap the plug with a rubber mallet to drive the seal into place. I think it is a 2 1/2" PVC pipe, I took the old seal to Home Depot for sizing. I had to do the rear main twice because I used too much grease the first time and drove it too far into the seat. Also a good idea to clean the oil channel behind the seals while you're there. If you use a seal puller, I bought one for $8, make sure you pad the fulcrum with something like a small piece of leather to keep it from digging into the aluminum. Break a leg, DasWaff

If I have, say, a 3"+ puddle under the car when I park it after an hour or so, am I near enough to total seal failure that I shouldn't drive it?

 

Parts aren't going to be here for a week. :-/

 

And I'm a total and complete moron for not dealing with this the previous few weekends, since I knew it was leaking. Stupid Syonyk, being social instead of fixing his car.

 

-=Russ=-

I wouldn't drive it if its that bad. Also, if your car is a manual, the oil getting into the clutch kit will ruin the clutch disc. Oil will make it swell and becomg very brittle and will shatter basically.