When I was messing with my car, I could not get the crank pulley off. I got the bolt off fine with the screwdriver in the gears available thru the plastic grilles, and a long torque bar. But when it came to actually getting the pulley off I couldn't do it? How do you guys do it? It didn't pull off- I tried like hell though.

Smith

HI, i've had 5 of these things (76-93)... i would suggest just leaving well enough alone!
if it works don't mess with it!

I get seals out with a sharpened awl. Just use a small hammer to punch the awl point through the metal part of the seal ring and lever them out. If you don't have a socket to match the seal size for reinstallation, a short piece of PVC pipe also works well.

I like this technique to loosen and tighten the crank pulley bolt:

Remove the four bolts holding the engine to transmission lower brace or girdle and it will come off easily. Wedge a flat bladed screwdriver in the flywheel or flexplate teeth so it can't rotate. Then loosen or tighten the pulley bolt.

I haven't used the starter bumping technique to loosen the bolt, but it sounds good to me!

I've done a bunch of them, and I always figure it's cheap insurance to change seals. Sometimes the seals press right in by hand... sometimes the seals are a bastard. The "Elring" brand seals seem tighter than anyone elses, and therefore harder to put in.
I pick out old seals using a very small screwdriver- seems to work every time. A paint-can opener tool might work for you too- or that "cotter pin extractor" in every Craftsman screwdriver set...
Clean up the bores as needed using brake cleaner and a rag. I grease the ID and OD of the new seals to slide them in easily. I also use the old seal if needed to drive in the new one- then you can tap them in with a mallet or something, without hurting the new seal. Tap carefully- you don't want to hit the end of the crank or camshaft.
Set the engine to TDC on #1 before you take anything apart- look for the timing marks to line up.
I break the crank bolt loose on the 86+ cars with a 15/16 socket on a breaker bar. Set it on the crank with the tool handle down in the 5:00 position, viewed from the front. Bump the starter for a second- it'll unscrew the bolt. To tighten, without any special tools, see the 700FAQ for the "Rope Trick". It really works. Otherwise you'll have trouble achieving any serious torque on the bolt tightening it.
Good luck!
--
Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '87 244DL/M47- 229K, 88 744GLE- 218K, 82 245T-181K Also responsible for the care and feeding of: 88 745GLE, 231K, 87 244DL, 239K, 88 245DL, 246K

A trick that I learned from a motorcycle mechanic that I knew is
to use a pocketknife blade or dremel to bevel the start of the bore
of the seal carrier if it has a sharp edge. Make the bevel small
(about 1-2mm) to avoid interfering with the sealing of the outside
of the seal to the bore. The bevel helps prevent the seal from
getting damaged as it is being pushed in. I went through 3
main sprocket seals in my bike within 500 miles before I learned that
trick.


-b.

If there is no sign of a leak you could probably wait until the next t-belt change. That is what I did with my daughter's '84 240 (130,000 mi.). I confess I was a little chicken to do the seals then. When we bought our 940, I decided to "zero miles" car and I did the front seals when I replaced the t-belt.

The seals really needed to be replaced. The car had only 101,000 miles but the seals were as hard as glass. They just shattered into many pieces when I took them out. They weren't leaking though.

If you decide to replace the seals, I'd recommend taking out the lower seal carrier and do the replacing of the seals on the bench. In my case I would never had gotten the old seals out if the carrier was in place. The old seals were stuck very, very tight. Don't overlook the two bolts which come up from the oil pan into the seal carrier. This was a very easy way to replace the seals with no danger of scratching the shaft surfaces.

For the cam seal I took off the cam cover and the front cam bearing cap. At that point the cam seal replacement could be done with just finger pressure. It was really easy.

I changed mine a few weeks ago. Its easy but be careful with the timing belt cover the plastic is weak from heat and time. Mine fell apart--now I don't have one (though I'd like to) and must tear the thing apart to replace it once again.

Replace the seals. You have them, you'll be in there already, and it takes little additional time. And then you'll know that you have good new seals, and can worry about other stuff...

(Make sure you have a big lever on hand to get the crank pully bolt loose.)

Good luck.

--
Steve in Minneapolis - 1987 245DL 246k