I am trying to replace the seals on a B230 engine and so far have been able to get the crankshaft seal out [the camshaft seal almost fell out] but have succeeded only in driving the layshaft seal further into the front block plate.

I had been using a flat bladed screwdriver but finally ended up using a mechanic's pic to get the crankshaft seal out.

No luck at all with the layshaft seal. At first it would not move at all and then I pushed it in about a quarter of an inch and is not cooperating at all with the screwdriver. I am looking at buying a seal removal tool but am not sure how effective that would be as well.

I thought of removing the front engine plate but it has two bolts that are attached through the oil sump and I think I would probably destroy the front part of that seal in the process of removing the plate. It has to be drawn forward once its bolts are removed and this will probably end up damaging the oil sump seal at its foremost edge. I could reseal with blue gasket stuff but before I go there I would like to know if there is a way I can simply remove the seal.

Dear muskox37,

Hope you're well. Seal-removal tools - usually with a hook at the end - are designed to pierce the seal and get a grip on it, so it can be pulled out. A screwdriver cannot do that.

I think you'll find that a standard seal-removal tool will do what's needed.

If no seal removal tool can be had, long, thin sheet metal screws can be used. Turn the screws into the seal on opposite sides. Tug gently straight backwards on alternate sides, "to walk" the seal along the shaft.

If the seal does not budge, then bend a nail into a hook and grip the bent nail with a needle-nosed vise-grip pliers. Insert the hook into the holes made by the screws. Make sure that the open end of the hook is about 1/4" (6.5mm) long. An over-long pointed end brings the risk of scratching the seal housing, allowing oil to get past the seal.

If you tug gently, the seal should come loose. You may need "to walk" to seal along the shaft, pulling gently on opposite sides of the seal.

Be sure to clean the shaft, where the seal rested. Sometimes, there's an accumulation of residues from oil. Use a strong solvent (e.g., acetone) to remove any residues.

If there are any rough spots on the shaft - check with your fingertip - polish them smooth with ultra-fine steelwool or ultra-fine sandpaper (6,000 grit).

If there is a ring worn into the shaft, where the old seal was seated, position the new seal so that it is not over the ring. That positioning will minimize the risk of oil getting past the new seal.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Hello Spook,

I trust all goes well with you today. My source of information for installing the new seals tells me to use a wooden drift whittled down to the size of the edge of the seal in order to complete the placement of the seals.

He advises using petroleum jelly on the inside of the seal and to very lightly coat the exterior of the seal with engine oil [using an oiled cloth to spread the oil].

The seal can then be placed in as far as it can go with hand pressure[It should not be possible to push the seal into place with hand pressure alone however] Then it can be tapped into place going from side to side till it is about 1.5 mm inside the rim of the housing.

Would this procedure meet with your approval? I would only modify it to accommodate your information about not using the same placement as before if there is a worn place on the shaft.

The procedure given me by my source has been very useful to date. My only quibble would be with his advice to use a flat screwdriver to extract the seals. His pictures of the process are excellent.

Dear muskox37,

Hope you're well. I trust you've extracted the seals. To seat seals, it is best to use a piece of plastic tube/pipe, of an outer diameter slightly less (say, 1/16", 1.5MM) than the seal. The end of the tube/pipe should be "square", so that when the tube/pipe is put end-down on a flat surface, the side of the tube/pipe is exactly perpendicular to the flat surface.

The outer edges of the tube/pipe should be slightly radiused (curved) - which can be done with fine sandpaper - to avoid the risk of nicking the seal. The tube/pipe should be slightly longer (1" / 25mm)) than the distance that the shaft protrudes from the face of the engine block or head.

Use of a plastic tube/pipe ensures: (a) nothing will scratch the shaft or the housing; (b) pressure will be exerted uniformly around the seal's circumference, which reduces risk of distorting the seal, or causing an inner lip to fold over (which will lead to leaks).

Using a screwdriver to remove a seal is to be avoided. A seal puller - while it has a point - is shaped so that the point cannot easily contact either the shaft or the housing. That's why positioning the seal puller can be hard. But, once the point has been sunk into the seal, the seal usually comes out will a few pulls.

As noted in my prior post, the shaft needs to be cleaned of oil residues (usually brown or brown-black). If there are any nicks in the shaft, those should be smoothed with ultra fine sandpaper (6,000 Grit). This may take a while, but will leave a shaft surface that is very smooth and so able to provide an even mating surface for the seal.

The seal can be finger lubed with engine oil, which should go on all surfaces. You can use fingers to push the seal along the shaft, until the rear edge of the seal is at the edge of the opening, wherein the seal "lives". Slide the tube over the shaft until the tube/pipe contacts the face of the seal. Using a mallet, tap the end of the tube, to push the seal into its housing. I concur that the seal should be seated 1/16" (1.5MM) behind the face of the housing.

The only reason to go deeper is if there's a ring worn into the shaft, or if there's a gouge in the shaft, that cannot be removed. Otherwise, once the seal's face is 1/16" (1.5MM) behind the housing's front edge, the seal is seated properly.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Hello again Spook.

Not having two of the plugs installed when I tried the engine might be the reason it ran a little rough! Please disregard all I have said about timing. . . always capable of a bonehead play . . . why I was never a professional mechanic. . .

Hope you are having a better day than me.

Dear muskox37,

Hope you're well. Such things happen. A Brickboarder recently reported that he ran his car for about three minutes, without any oil in the engine.

He was interrupted during an oil change: someone then asked him to let the engine idle, that a possible exhaust leak might be found. Happily, the engine was "cold" and the ambient temps were moderate: the engine seems not to have suffered any obvious damage.

I recently replaced a distributor cap, the rotor and plug wires. The car an fine. A few days later, it began to vibrate horribly. I checked and found one plug wire had come-off the distributor cap. No idea why: the others were solidly in place.

In short, as penance, do 500 push-ups (SAS/Ranger-style: feet up on a chair)....

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Hello again Spook,

Thank you for the last post. I will be trying to put the accessory belts back on today or tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a better day. I did give it a try yesterday with the plugs back in place and it ran well for about thirty seconds and did not show any signs of leaking from the seals. It should be back on the road early next week if all goes according to Hoyle.

Dear muskox37,

Hope you're well. Unless the flametrap (crankcase ventilation system) is clogged, there should not be any leaks from the oil seals (front of engine or the rear main seal. I'm sure you seated the seals properly.

When replacing the accessory belts, apply anti-seize to the threads of the screws used to set belt tension (10mm heads) and - once you've tightened the lock nuts on the front of the tensioner arms (13 mm) - loosen the screws used to set the belt tension.

Once the lock nuts have been tightened, loosening the screws used to set the tension, makes it easier to move those screws, should it be needful to adjust the tension.

I'd recommend applying anti-seize to the threads on the tensioner bolts, which go through the tensioner arms, onto which bolts go above-referred hex nuts.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Hello again Spook,

Thanks for all your assistance once again with my 940. I had changed the flametrap earlier when I first noticed the oil leak, hoping the new trap would allow enough ventilation and stop the leaking through the seal. The original trap turned out to be pretty well clogged and was also beginning to break up. I was pleasantly surprised to find the flametrap atop the engine instead of being buried under the intake manifold like the one in my 240. I suspect the previous owners were using a non-Volvo garage for their servicing and thus the clogged flametrap.

I took the car out for a run yesterday and, so far, there is no leaking. I will keep my fingers crossed for a few days and then if there is no further leaking, will start to relax.

Fred Su, who provided me with the pictures and procedures for the seal replacement job, advises me to adjust the tensioner after about 600 kilometres, using the rubber grommet at the front of the case to get to it. I told him about my troubles using a screwdriver to get the seals out, by the way.

Dear muskox37

Hope you're well. You're welcome. You should also inspect the brass nipple, atop the intake manifold, onto which is attached the narrow-diameter black rubber hose, from the flame trap's narrow side-arm. The brass nipple can get clogged. If so, it will not suction oil fumes and so reduce pressure in the crankcase.

If memory service, the nipple can be removed with a 3/8" (11mm) wrench or deep socket. A drill bit can be used to clear the nipple of dirt, sludge, etc.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Good morning Spook,

I did take a look at that nipple and it was clean. I am now hoping that with the new flame trap and new seals, the engine will be good for the winter. Next I will be taking a look at the parking brake but that can wait a while so I can get some stuff done around the house. And the 240 is calling for some attention to its fuel system. Idling like a pig.

If you hear of anybody needing a crankshaft holder tool, let me know and I could either sell it to them for half my price [which was the better part of a hundred dollars] or lend it to them for the cost of shipping.

I will take a look at that this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Wouldn't want to get another leak courtesy of the flametrap.

Hope you are having a good day as well. Summer arrived in July this year and we are all enjoying it on the wet coast.

Good morning Spook,

Hope all is well with you today. I got all the seals in place and timed the engine according to my source and it is obviously out of time. I will try to paraphrase his procedure.

1. slip the new timing belt over the crankshaft pulley boss, with the double lines on the left side of the crankshaft pulley boss [his terminology for the splined section]. Align the crankshaft notch of the front crankshaft shim to the nub on the front of the engine.
2. Pull the belt up and around the intermediate shaft pulley and align the single line mark to the to the dot on the wheel and background nub at 3:00.

3. Once you align the single line mark to the intermediate shaft, then pull and stretch the underside of the belt tightly over the crankshaft pulley boss and over the tensioner roller [which is being held out of play by a pin].

Then, pull the upper side of the belt onto the overhead camshaft gear, such that the other single line mark lines up to the dot on the overhead camshaft gear and to the background nub on the rear plate.

4. Pull the tensioner pin and release the spring.
5. Temporarily install the crankshaft pulley.
6. Turn the crankshaft pulley 720 degrees and observe if the belt stays on the tensioner roller and all gears. If it does, doublecheck that all the alignment marks of pulleys to background marks still hold. We do not care about the alignment marks on the belt because they are nearly impossible to align again to the pulleys.

I thought I had followed this process closely but obviously went amiss somewhere. I found it difficult to align stuff very well when you cannot get directly in front of the item under consideration [the radiator being in the way]. I am going to have another go at it right now and will take off the pulley and the lower cover. If you have any suggestions I am listening. I would rather not repeat this procedure if at all possible.

The procedure laid out has a lot of pictures for guidance and the procedure is more detailed but I am just giving you the gist of the information. If you have an alternative procedure I am all ears [or eyes, given the medium].

Hello again Spook,

I did try to email you yesterday thanking your for your advice on how to extract the seals. Using your two screw method I was able to get the layshaft seal out and I thank you for that advice. I tapped the water pump pliers as I held onto the screws and that worked fine. I 'walked' the seal out just as you described the process.

Now to have a look at what I have in plastic pipes. I will go over to your method instead of that proposed by my source.

Thank you once again.

I use the old seal and drive in the new seal with the back of the old seal and a small ball point hammer. A 30mm or 32mm 12 point socket works too. The front seal can be a bit more difficult to get all the way in. I used a four wheel drive socket and ground the tabs off and then used a file to make a nice round hole in the square end to fit the crank bolt. I found the socket at Harbor freight for 8.00. It has been a time saver for years. Pauli

Hi Paulii,

I ended up using ABS pipe to make a drift for both the crankshaft and the layshaft/camshaft seals. I had to bring the exterior diameter down a little for the camshaft seal but that was easy enough to do with a grinder and a bit of sandpaper. I could not get a really good outside diameter fit [outside diameter not quite as large as I would have liked] for the crankshaft, but the inside diameter fit the crankshaft like a hand in a glove.

The beauty of plastic pipe is that it will be damaged before anything else when plastic comes up against metal so there is little potential for damage to the shaft or the housing. And it is readily available at any hardware store.

My original source advised using a wooden drift cut down to fit the width of the seal. Then he 'walked' the seal in, tapping it from side to side till it was fully in place. I don't see a lot of problems with that process but felt that the pipe solution might avoid potential problems and the material was readily at hand.

I think your way would work just as well and do thank you for the suggestions.