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#295906
Don
Participant

    US Member

    Did you try cleaning up those surfaces with fine “crocus cloth”?  You are in trouble if there is actual pitting in the area where the upper seal rides.

    Keep in mind this engine probably has the very strangely designed recirculation system in that upper seal area.  What appears to be an upper seal leak might just be a messed up recirculation system.  This system has a vacuum port right next to the upper seal in the hopes of pulling out any excess fuel/oil collected in that area, this is then pulled back down into the intake manifold.

    The problem with this system is that engineers removed the large oring that normally provides a seal between the upper bearing carrier and crankcase.   So, by deleting this oring, the engineers created an intentional fuel/oil leak, which to me more than defeats the benefits of the vacuum/recirc system.

    The other issue with this system is that normal leakage is oftentimes misdiagnosed as a upper crank seal issue.

    Does your crankcase look like it has been apart before?  If so, there is the chance that someone added the upper bearing oring that appeared to be “missing”.  This is a common mistake that I know I have made at least once as well.  The problem with adding the oring is that it prevents the recirc system from working (blocks the vacuum port).

    I will never understand what the engineers thought they were accomplishing.  I could understand adding the vacuum port, but redesigning/repositioning the upper bearing oring so it could be used as well.