Hey all...

I tried replacing the driver's side output shaft seal when I had the cradle out. The first two seals I tried installing distorted, the third I managed to get installed (I thought). Low and behold, it appears to be leaking. I used a seal driver made from PVC to drive it from the outer lip only. Is there some trick to this?? I realize i'll have to pull the driver's strut tower and pull the axle again but I would rather only have to do this once, not twice.

Thanks all...1986 GT, 2.8 V6, 4-speed Muncie.

Scrape or wire-wheel the colored paint off the OD of the seal... it's a type of sealant but the thickness of it interferes with proper installation in many cases. Once the paint is removed, install it with a thin smear of RTV to the OD. The RTV greases the way and seals it.

Take a look at the axle where the seal touches it. Is that part of the axle clean and not messed up?

Hard to seal without leaking against a bad surface. I'd think it is leaking at the seal to axle surfaces before the seal to transmission surface.

don't they make a seal that has the "sealing part" about an 1/8" over "from where it used to seal", so even if the axle is grooved it has a new surface to ride on ???

quote Originally posted by Bloozberry: Scrape or wire-wheel the colored paint off the OD of the seal... it's a type of sealant but the thickness of it interferes with proper installation in many cases. Once the paint is removed, install it with a thin smear of RTV to the OD. The RTV greases the way and seals it.

Thanks for this, will try.

quote Take a look at the axle where the seal touches it. Is that part of the axle clean and not messed up? Hard to seal without leaking against a bad surface. I'd think it is leaking at the seal to axle surfaces before the seal to transmission surface.

I cleaned the axle before I installed it and it appeared OK, but I will double check this tonight.

Thanks for the responses.

I've been through this frustration before. I've learned that different brands/parts stores seal ODs can vary a little bit. I had two different brands, one that went in easily, and another that I bent to crap. Went back to the stores, asked for one more of each, and measured. Several thousandths difference.

I've learned that there are 2 ways to install a new seal.

Use a driving tool the same OD as the seal and tap repeatedly & gently and squarely til it seats.

Plan "B". Find a block of 2x4 to use as a interface between the seal & the driving tool. Square it up real nice and use 1 blow and drive it home with a heavy hammer. The grin on your face will be priceless.
On the other hand if you...................................................

Spoon

------------------
Two yeast spent their entire life "about 2 days" discussing what the purpose of life could be and not once did they even come close to the fact that they were making champagne. Quoted by: Unknown

So I got the new seal in (I think). Thanks for the tips, the block of wood + RTV + sanding really helped.

Anyhow, the fluid that came out of the trans is dark brown, like mollasses. It's not thick like mollasses of course, but is this alright? It's synchromesh fluid that i added about 1000 miles ago. Should I put fresh fluid in? I also have some Redline MTL I could put in.

How much fluid did you get out? Let me explain why...

I have had what I thought was a chronic engine oil leak that I had not bothered to chase since I got the car two years ago -- too many other things to fix first before I dug into this. Engine oil never really seemed to go down, but there was a constant wet drip.

When I recently decided to give my 86 GT 4 speed a treat and change the tranny fluid for new synchromesh fluid, I was a bit surprised that I only got a little over a quart out of the drain. It was very dark -- looked like well used motor oil (which it probably was).

After refilling with synchro went for test drive, and on my return the nice new synchro was dripping, no flowing, out of the driver's side of the tranny. Closer inspection revealed a leak around the seal, so I parked it and drained the nice new fluid out before it leaked everywhere and poured it back into the original bottles, minus what I lost in the leak. Just today I did the seal replacement -- have not refilled it yet or drove, so hopefully all will be well.

So it now appears that my engine oil leak actually was this seal leaking -- I guess that's good news?.

The Penzoil Synchro I have appears to be darker than motor oil when I put it in. I suspect you drained motor oil (previously recommended for the 4 speed) when you got the gold coloured fluid out of it. If your fluid ran real low with leaking seals you might have cooked the fluid with overheat -- not sure what happens to synchro when you do this? You also might have contaminated the fluid with sealer or other foreign material with the repeat problems you have had. Suggest you go for total fresh new fill of fluid. You might want to even run 10W30 for a short while just to flush out whatever is gunking up your tranny before refilling with synchro.

Tip for my fellow Canucks -- I had a real tough time even finding Synchro -- finally found it at NAPA who carries it routinely. At $16 CDN a quart you can see why I wanted to salvage my leaking fluid!

edited for typo

[This message has been edited by fcsmls (edited 11-08-2010).]

^ Thanks for the response.

I drained about at least 2.5 quarts, I don't think it was dangerously low so I hope I didn't cook the stuff. I tend to agree to go the safe route but I hate to throw away the synchromesh fluid, it was expensive (as you know)!

Sounds like you should be safe. What would happen if you filtered the synchro? Thinking running it through a coffee filter to see if any guck comes out?

Have recommendations changed for tranny oil? While when filling up my getrag I was surprised to see 10W30 recommended in both the Factory and Haynes manuals, I followed the recommendations. Why the change, and what's the effect of using motor oil?

-Michael

I went ahead and put the old stuff back in. There wasn't any debris, and the fluid wouldn't have sheared or burned in 1000 miles.

I appreciate the responses though. Filtering the fluid would have been a good idea.

quote Have recommendations changed for tranny oil? While when filling up my getrag I was surprised to see 10W30 recommended in both the Factory and Haynes manuals, I followed the recommendations.

GM did change their recommendation to synchromesh fluids in order to improve shifting, and the consensus among those who switched is very positive.

One last question - I was about 0.3 quarts short of synchromesh fluid in order to fill the transmission. I filled the tranny with Lucas synthetic stabilizer. Any comments? Will I damage the trans? Thanks again all for the responses.

Any comments on using Synchromesh with Lucas synthetic stabilizer?