Rear main seal Question... replacement

iwashmycar

Dirt-Old 20+Year Member
Apr 7, 2004
1,236
1
39
Columbus, Ohio
94 AODE

rear seal is leaking like crazy....ruining the driveway basically.

How difficult is it to replace in my garage? No air tools however...

Also the shop that rebuilt the tranny 3 years ago quoted us 400 bucks, another said 6.

Any other info is greatly appreciated if I left anything out!

thanks
 
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If you have a good size jack, it's not any worse than doing a R&R on a T5. The AODE is a heavy beast, but I've swapped one by myself before. An extra set of hands is definitely helpful if you don't have the car high enough to roll the trans under the car on top of the jack, so you can muscle it up.
 
I put a new AOD in my lifted 90 fullsize bronco by myself with no jack...never again. I will try my damn-nest to swap to a manual before I do anything like that again. It can be done like said...you will be best just getting so mad :mad: and in a "going in no matter what" attitude and do it. Also just accept the fact your going to take a bath in ATF/Dex.

It is not impossible, just a bit more of a PITA.

As far as the shop wanting another $400-600...while they do the trans anyway...kick in the nuts is what that is called. There is NO reason it would/should cost more than $100 for parts and shoptime/labor rate if the trans is already out.

At $400-600 it is worth it to do yourself.
 
94 AODE

rear seal is leaking like crazy....ruining the driveway basically.

How difficult is it to replace in my garage? No air tools however...

Also the shop that rebuilt the tranny 3 years ago quoted us 400 bucks, another said 6.

Any other info is greatly appreciated if I left anything out!

thanks

Just because you see oil dripping from the flywheel inspection plate don't assume, like I did, that's it's the rear main. Turns out that it was coming from the valve cover gasket at the firewall. Difficult to see up in there. Another source might be the from the oil pressure sensing unit. Not sure about the intake but that might be a source at the rear of the engine. The point I want to make is make sure you have eliminated other sources before R&R the tranny, it's a big job in the driveway.
 
I put a new AOD in my lifted 90 fullsize bronco by myself with no jack...never again. I will try my damn-nest to swap to a manual before I do anything like that again. It can be done like said...you will be best just getting so mad :mad: and in a "going in no matter what" attitude and do it. Also just accept the fact your going to take a bath in ATF/Dex.

It is not impossible, just a bit more of a PITA.

As far as the shop wanting another $400-600...while they do the trans anyway...kick in the nuts is what that is called. There is NO reason it would/should cost more than $100 for parts and shoptime/labor rate if the trans is already out.

At $400-600 it is worth it to do yourself.

well the trans rebuild was 3 years ago, so this is a whole new job...tranny is fine lol.

that atf bath doesnt sound so fun :rlaugh:
 
Get the car as high as possible. A good set of hand tools, with long extensions a must. A 12 point 12 mm for the drive shaft, it's tight also. A extra set of hands will be so valuable with the heavy AOD. Can do in a saturday. Worth doing yourself, save money and knowing you did it yourself.
 
I would do it myself. It's going to be a horrible thing to have to do, but you'll be glad you didn't bend over and take it in the rear to have the shop do it. I did my clutch and rear main borrowing some shop space (on a giant RV lift) and shop tools with help from a friend. It took us both the whole freaking day to do it. It was awful getting it back together but if I had to, I would do it in my own garage with my own regular hack and tools before spending $400+ on that. In the end, it's still worth saving that money.

In fact, next time I have to do that, I may pull the whole motor since I managed to do THAT in like 30 minutes. That would have saved hours of holding the tranny up and trying to get it aligned.
 
Just because you see oil dripping from the flywheel inspection plate don't assume, like I did, that's it's the rear main. Turns out that it was coming from the valve cover gasket at the firewall. Difficult to see up in there. Another source might be the from the oil pressure sensing unit. Not sure about the intake but that might be a source at the rear of the engine. The point I want to make is make sure you have eliminated other sources before R&R the tranny, it's a big job in the driveway.

Wise thoughts here.

Remember too that a clogged PCV system can cause a healthy RMS to spew (the crankcase needs a new path of breathing and the RMS is often the easiest thing to blow past).

A loose PCV valve can cause oil to run down the back of the motor as well.

Good luck.