Happy New Years!

I decided to crawl under the car and inspect it to check for things that may need taking care of this year. What I found was the following list, of which one item is particularly concerning:

1. Front Main Seal leak. I actually have a new one available, but don't have a new crank damper bolt, or the necessary tools to replace it.
2. Very Slight ATF leak from what looks like a dust cover at the bottom of the bell housing. I did have my transmission serviced (new seals, ATF, and sleeve connector about 12k miles ago). This leak is quite concerning to me.
3. Vee-mounts and front subframe mounts are dry-rotted. Could this be the cause of a slight clunk that happens under very specific and isolated conditions?
4. Rubber boot on right side tie-rod end is split. Easy fix.

Everything else underneath my car looks great. Bushes, ball-joints, and shocks are good, steering rack seems fine except for that tie-rod end, differential looks good although I should do a drain and fill soon, driveshaft u-joints are good, the half-shaft u-joints have been recently greased and there is no play in any of it. There's no rust underneath the car either. Wheel bearings are still tight. There's no play when I shake the wheels.

Looking at the JTIS as well as the horror that is the thread on the sheared crank bolt, I'm wary of replacing that seal although the leak is annoying.

Any ideas on that ATF leak? How difficult is replacing the subframe and Vee-mounts if I procure an engine support bar? Are there any other special tools needed? Finally, looking at the torque spec needed for the Crank Bolt in order to replace the Front Main Seal, 278 lb-ft (377 Nm), how do you suggest I go about removing that bolt once I rent the special tool for locking the crank? A 5 foot long breaker bar or an impact wrench? Locally, I haven't seen a torque wrench for sale above 250 lb-ft , so that's also something to consider.

How much do you think I should pay an indy for the Front main seal and subframe and vee-mounts? I'm wondering if that may be more cost-effective.

 

Find a very long pipe that will fit over your breaker bar. Be sure to turn in the anti clockwise rotation, or use a air hammer gun. Getting the fan and other things out of the way will be a big help.
Do a real good write up, I need to do the same thing.
Kind of wish I was there to help on this one.

 

for the oil seal put some seal expander in ..increases diameter by 4% and softens the seal .

 

My 2005 xk8 had a slight transmission leak which could be seen at the inspection cover of the bellhousing.

I pulled the valve body and replaced all seals, the leak continued.

I then put the car on stands for @ 2 months while I worked on several suspension pieces. While up in the air I decided to change out the transmission fluid, which I did. I drove the car for @ 1,000 miles and the transmission leak had increased quite a bit over that mileage, checked the levels, they were slightly low. (due to the leakage)

Finally determined that the front seal of the transmission was leaking and as a ‘Hail Mary’ I added some seal softener. Two companies suggested it would work but was a short term fix; one would only say it should work. I used the least amount suggested and low and behold all leaking ceased. I drove for two weeks and then it started leaking again, only this time it was much more severe…after one week I literally had a steady drip, drip, drip. The softener has turned the seals to mush!

I’m planning on replacing the transmission with a lower mileage one and since the front seal of my engine is also leaking I’m going to pull the entire motor/transmission assay out the top side and do all work in the open.

Good luck.

wj

 

Made me shiver just to read about crawling under the car - then I checked the temperature in Puerto Rico today and found it's 82 deg F / 28 deg C.

Good luck with the seal replacements. It's a major job but fortunately low on parts cost.

Graham

 

Today I was able to find an engine support bar at a discount (only paid $100). This means that the first big job I will tackle from this list are the Vee Mounts and front subframe mounts.

Are there any other special tools I will need to complete this job other than a press for the front subframe bushes?

Has anyone tried a Polyurethane bush for that front subframe mount? Would poly be a bad idea on this application on a car that has every front suspension bush already in Poly?