Very slight oil leak..., Is this coming from the rear main seal? Options

[chmillman]

I have a very slight oil leak that appears to be coming out of the small notch at the joint between the motor and the transmission. It's really nothing that I'm worried about, every once in awhile there is a drop on the floor... I was just curious, does this indicate that the crankshaft main seal is leaking, or it it the transmission?

[Jack Standz]

RMS. Just had this same issue, but since we use Swepco gear oil (it's a greenish blue color) it's easy to tell the difference. Left alone, it'll only get worse and could ruin the clutch material.

Suggest you get the gowesty.com seal installer and watch their video. This tool has a built-in drill bit guide that makes adding a drainback hole easy.

https://gowesty.com/products/rear-main-flyw...=41426745753765

BTW you can replace this seal without pulling the engine/transmission, as follows:

Disconnect battery cable, clutch cable, speedometer cable and shift rod at transmission

Remove starter (the hardest part of the whole job is removing the top fastener, which can be done with a medium-long extension on your ratchet)

Remove muffler (3 fasteners per side) and hanger (two 13mm nuts)

Remove rear transmission fasteners

Remove remaining 3 motor to engine fasteners

Place two stands under motor/transmission and pull transmission away from motor onto the stands

Remove pressure plate and clutch disk (6 fasteners) use flywheel lock

Remove flywheel (5 fasteners) using flywheel lock

Replace seal (see above link for gowesty.com video)

Put everything back together (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

You are correct, but I would rather spend 10 more minutes to unbolt the inner CV joints, and then drop the transmission out of the way and have plenty of room to work. Easier to get the RMS seated straight and proper.

OK sure. But, I doubt the 10 minute estimate to remove and reattach the CVs, especially if you have to also remove the heat exchanger (s). Prefer to leave them on because removing and reattaching can lead to exhaust leaks.

Can you remove the transmission by unbolting the CVs and without undoing the heat exchanger(s)? Not sure. Will have to check sometime. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)