Well, I boogered up a 35 dollar seal

[lowcashleblanc]

Specifically a rear main seal. I will be ordering another here in a little while. Before I do though, can someone confirm its the waterpump pulley that is the correct size for the installation tool. The one in the link is to large correct? Is there another hiding behind it?

EDIT: Found it. MD124049 is the larger pulley and MD124050 is the smaller. The smaller is what I'm after.
EDIT 2: Thank you Pot for having one for sale.

Mitsubishi Water Pump Pulley - 1G/2G DSM

Genuine OEM Mitsubishi factory replacement water pump pulley fits all 1G/2G 1990-1999 DSM Eclipse GST/GSX, Talon TSi and Laser Turbo models. Mitsubishi reference number 10041. Ships worldwide. Buy yours at STM!

stmtuned.com

I feel a bit defeated so I am considering just finding a local shop to press the next one in for me. I don't wanna give up on this portion of the task, but tearing a $35 seal hurts feelings.

While we are here, say I also boogered the oil pan a bit. Maybe ever so slightly bent a small section on the rim and left a few gouge marks on its mating surface. closer to the outside edge and not inner. I'm assuming it was me that left the marks, could have been a PO.

RTV should fill those gouges back in yeah? When I bolt the pan back in the rim of the pan should find its way back into place?

The last thing has me scratching my head a bit. There are supposed to be TWO short bolts that go in the two forward most holes on the pan on the timing side? or is it only one?

I kept track of each bolt and its location when I removed them. I only had one short bolt that came from the timing side of the pan. Almost all other pan bolts were identical with the exception of 2, maybe 3 that were longer than all of them and had different heads. The majority are hexagonal with a phillips head feature. I am confident that the longest ones were sourced to replace some lost pieces.

 

[yubh8tn]

I have no answers for your rear main problem or the pulley question, I did my seal with the engine out of the car and had no trouble, I don't remember having to risk tearing the seal. But, when I last removed my oil pan I bent it too. What I did was bend it back to shape the best I could and left RTV to do the rest (and fill the gouges). So I think you're good there, maybe try to bend it back to correct as far as you can. As for the shorter bolts, all of my bolts were identical. None of them were shorter than the rest. So just make sure the one directly below the lowest timing pulley (might have to pull cover, kind of a pita but only takes a couple minutes) is your shortest.

 

[lowcashleblanc]

It’s my first rear main seal job ever so I’m just going through a bit of a learning curve. I didn’t use the appropriate sized object to drive it in.



Thanks for the response on the pan. That’s what I was hoping for, to just massage the lip of the pan back into place and to maybe take a light grit sandpaper high spots of the gouges. It’s also my first time resealing a pan and was worried I’d need to source a new one.

 

[iceman69510]

The oil pan bolts under the timing belt pulley need to be confirmed for length to not hit the timing belt. Some engines by now may have all short ones or any kind of mix, but make sure those two clear, that's the important aspect.

 

[diambo4life]

You really don't need a tool to install the rear main seal. Most important is to make sure you orient the seal metal retainer correctly. It has a small hole on one of the lips that should face down.

 

[lowcashleblanc]

You really don't need a tool to install the rear main seal. Most important is to make sure you orient the seal metal retainer correctly. It has a small hole on one of the lips that should face down.

Thanks! Yes, I have that in my notes. Hole facing 6 and the tabs pointing inward toward the engine. I also bought a new oil control ring and housing so that I could use the take off as an example. I have a thing for spares.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

I feel a bit defeated so I am considering just finding a local shop to press the next one in for me. I don't wanna give up on this portion of the task, but tearing a $35 seal hurts feelings.

Hell, I wish my first big mistake was $35 bucks. I think I toasted a motor getting my ears wet 🤣

Use a proper driver and you'll be fine. The driver is critical, since it ensures good contact all around the circumference of the seal and causes the seal to drive in straight. If it gets cocked, one knock of the hammer (as seen in your pics) will f*** the whole seal. Even if it goes in at that point, it will probably leak. The tolerance is tight for a reason, and ensuring its straight during installation is critical to its longevity.

sh*t happens. Push on and chalk it up to lessons learned. You're dong great work.

 

[JNR]

Would freezing the seal help? That is a good trick with bushings at least, since it'll get slightly smaller and easier to put in the hole.

 

[lowcashleblanc]

Hell, I wish my first big mistake was $35 bucks. I think I toasted a motor getting my ears wet 🤣

Use a proper driver and you'll be fine. The driver is critical, since it ensures good contact all around the circumference of the seal and causes the seal to drive in straight. If it gets cocked, one knock of the hammer (as seen in your pics) will f*** the whole seal. Even if it goes in at that point, it will probably leak. The tolerance is tight for a reason, and ensuring its straight during installation is critical to its longevity.

sh*t happens. Push on and chalk it up to lessons learned. You're dong great work.

Don't count me out on toasting a motor yet. #231 is down for the count until I...

a. find a confident tuner for DSMlink in my area.
b. learn to tune myself.
c. switch to Haltech as most tuners in my area will work with their platform.

I'm leaning towards Haltech as I want that sweet sweet digital dash they offer. A clean dash is really appealing.

The new seals came in yesterday and a few minutes ago I successfully drove in the new seal with the one that I screwed up. Win.

 

[lowcashleblanc]

Would freezing the seal help? That is a good trick with bushings at least, since it'll get slightly smaller and easier to put in the hole

Thanks for that suggestion. I just did something along those lines.

When I first tried and failed, it was about 30 degrees in my garage so everything was cold af. This time around I brought the temperature of the seal housing up with a hair dryer on low. I didn't bake it, just got it up to room temp and used the damaged seal as a driver. Then carefully worked my way around tapping away. Went in pretty easy. I suspect the constriction from the cold was part my problem the first time around.

 

[lowcashleblanc]

The oil pan bolts under the timing belt pulley need to be confirmed for length to not hit the timing belt. Some engines by now may have all short ones or any kind of mix, but make sure those two clear, that's the important aspect.

Thanks, Ill be sure to confirm bolt lengths. I'm sure there are some threads I can did up that have the lengths posted. As I've read, its the two forward most positions on the pan directly beneath the oil pump drive pully and the crankshaft timing pully.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

b. learn to tune myself.

Best option. If you've already got ECMlink there's no reason not to use it. With all the information out there, it's pretty easy for most people.

Remote tuning is a cheap alternative with ECMlink as well so long as your car is mechanically sound.