Tech Question involving seals

From: Ray Sulich (ray.sulich@snet.net)
Date: Tue May 01 2001 - 20:58:57 EDT


91 Dakota 5.2L 4X4.

I just spend Saturday and Sunday changing my oil pan gasket, rear main
bearing oil seal, starter (because it was out anyway) and oil pump (again
because I was there) only to have a leak at the rear of the oil pan less
than 24 hrs later. Since replacing either the rear main seal or oil pan
gasket (whatever is leaking) involves again removing the front
differential, center link, and starter among other things I thought I would
ask a couple of questions before doing the same job all over again. The
rear main bearing looked great. The truck has 135,000 miles on it. I'm
guessing the crankshaft end play is within specs.

1. The oil pan end seals are rubber, should I use permatex on them
too? (I did last time, both sides)

2. Should I put permatex on the rear main bearing seal (between the
halves)? (I didn't last time).

Word to the wise. The front differential is a B*tch to take out and put
back in! The thing weighs a ton and is very awkward to maneuver. It has
to be perfectly lined up to go back in.

On another note, the 4WD Drive light behind the 4WD shifter stopped working
after all this work. Anyone have any idea where it gets its signal to
light. I'm think the truck is shifting to 4WD so I guess it's just an
issue of the signal not getting to the light or maybe it's not shifting all
the way. Any idea how to troubleshoot this problem?



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