rear main seal "has left the building"

[angeno]

Well I got an early Christmas present the other day. Noticing a stain of oil growing on my garage floor I brought my VX in to my local trustworthy mechanic friend to see what's what. Long story short, it looks as though the rear main seal is shot. Probably, it happened because I've been negligent in keeping the old girl topped off with oil. I have kept the EGR valve updated and changed the valve cover gaskets recently (not fun). So I've been trying to keep the VX running well.

But as we all know, monitoring oil consumption is nothing less than a full time (must ALWAYS do) job. And I wasn't as vigilant as I probably should have been. And so the consequences are now coming to pass. Nobody's fault but mine. Hey I love my VX. And, with only 145K on the dial, I am not soon letting it go. But sometimes I wish it didn't need quite so much babysitting.

Anyway, I am putting all this down on (virtual) paper because I wondered if any of you folks encountered a similar set of events. Also, just out of curiosity, assuming you had a professional R&I the job, what costs did you encounter. Any and all feedback will be more than welcome....

[evillecutter]

But sometimes I wish it didn't need quite so much babysitting.

x2

[Leon R]

Are you 100% sure that it is a rear main seal? After the old split seal design of old V8s, you just do not see them fail much, anymore...

If running low on oil was a cause for a failed rear main, I would expect to see most of us with this problem

[rowhard]

think a catastrophic failure would of happened long before rear main seal leak due to low oil. it happens, as Leon R mentioned about old V8s and You could count on the 2.8 V6 GM motor doing it around 80k miles

[bartmanS4]

You want to have him double check that it is not a leak somewhere along the transmission cooling lines or somewhere else on the transmission. This is a much more common occurrence and could possibly be misdiagnosed.

Scott

[PK]

Depends if the leak is engine oil, or tranny oil.
If it is engine oil, and coming out of the bell housing bottom, then the rear main seal must be the culprit.
If it is tranny oil, then obviously not the engine rear main seal.

I agree with others, it has nothing to do with low oil levels. Rod bearings would have been knocking before the seal was damaged.

PK

[bartmanS4]

Depends if the leak is engine oil, or tranny oil.

PK

Very true, I just can't taste the difference. Between Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet? Yes. Different oils? Not so much.

[VX crazy]

I remember one year following Tone back from Moab and my truck was covered in oil when he had a rear main seal leak, all the oil he had to add at every stop lol!

[Jolly Roger VX'er]

I thought mine had a rear main oil seal leaking only to find it was trannie fluid from a cracked washer on the trannie drain plug. When it dripped on the dirty garage floor it looked like motor oil...but upon climbing under her I could see a drip hanging from the trannie drain plug and spray all around rear of engine. One call to merlin fixed her up...no more leak.

[angeno]

Thanks guys for the always excellent advice. I'll see if we can work the problem a little more definitively. I'll post once I know what's what for sure.