I'm replacing the pushrod tube seals on my 1.7 (engine is in car) with Viton seals from Pelican. The existing seals are so bad I could spin the tubes by hand with no effort - no wonder it leaks so bad. So I started with #1, got the old ones off, cleaned the tubes and put the new seals on. I cannot get them back in. I've lubed them with a bit of motor oil and I'm trying to spin as I insert them but they will not go.

There are some early 1.7 engines that have different sized pushrod tubes than everyone else. Compare an old seal with the new ones.

Oh no I just bought an engine seal kit and it was one of the seals I planed on replacing hope I don't run into the same issue! I did buy the 1.7 seal kit so I hope it's ok.

Here's what came out compared to the new seals. There appears to be a slight difference. So where do I find the early seals?Click to view attachment

I use Vaseline and a wise grip to hold it and push to snap. Make sure you open the grip enough not to bend it.

Oil on the O-rings, and twist and push them in. They're a tight fit.

--DD

Nope, those look right.

The small pushrod tubes only affect a very few engines. That's why you don't see much attention paid.

Here's a comparison from German Supply.com

Huh... I didn't know there was a difference on 1.7s. Thanks for the heads up Mark!

Matt, sounds like you just need to give it a little more umph. Like Dave and others have said, make sure the grooves are really clean first (I used a few cans of brake cleaner to get rid of all the sludge and grit) and oil them as well. Then make sure you twist and push hard as they go in. You'll feel them "snap" into place.

Vice grip did the trick. #1 compete. Thanks.

I just did this last weekend. I lubed the o-rings and held the tube in place from underneath, while my dad pressed on the tube from the end with the back side of a screwdriver (the round side). This allowed it to fit perfectly in the open end of the tube and while he was applying the "forward" pressure to get it to into the head, I was rotating as it was going in. All went in without much trouble!

Only on a very few very early engines. Most 1.7s are 'standard'.