15,000 Mile Service - Rear Main Crank Seal

[Blue03]

Took my Blue in for the 15K service, coolant check and possible ATF line flush plus some warranty stuff (driver door rattle, slow front passenger window and noisy dash fan). They changed the oil, cabin filter was ok, yellow coolant was good, it was time to do the AFT "found fluid contaminated & oxidized", fixed rattle, adjusted window and replaced fan motor. Not a bad outing, and looks like they did a nice job. It only took an extra day (was in Tues AM, done on Weds PM) to recieve fan motor part.
However, although I did not see any oil on the garage floor or oil useage, the Tech found "oil leaking from oil pan gasket and around bell housing" and "performed U/V dye test to verify location of leaks...found oil pan gasket seeping...removed transmission to access rear engine block - found rear main crank seal leak. Replaced both rear main crank seal and oil pan gasket with updated parts/reassembled and dye checked to verify repair...no leaks found at this time..all areas cleaned."
I did a site search and there are a couple threads on leaking rear main crank seal repairs but not much else. My seal repair was all under warranty so no $$ to me but looks like a lot of work. Also the comment about "updated parts" is curious. So this leaves me with some questions. Anybody else have this lately? Anyone know how this would be caused? "Updated parts" makes me wonder about the original parts and ponder if it could affect others. Any conditions that could cause it to happen again? Next time could be expensive. All thoughts and comments are appreciated. Cheers

[cyclopsram]

I didn't realize the Panther Platform had a cabin air filter....:depress: RAM

[fastblackmerc]

We don't. :D

[Marauderjack]

I have had seven 4.6L "Panthers" and none have had a rear main leak!!:bows:

Two have gone well over 200K miles and had very few problems....GREAT CARS!!:beer:

I was concerned about CC pressure with my blower but so far (17K miles) NO LEAKY!!:banana:

The rear main seal replacement is time consuming but fairly easy to do with a "One Piece" seal!! The older "Two Piece" seals are a PITA....DON'T ASK ME HOW I KNOW!!:argue:

You should be good to go....OEM seal could have been damaged at the factory or quite possibly your only leak was the pan gasket...Just keep an eye on it!!:cool:

Marauderjack:burnout:

[Blue03]

We don't. :D

Hmmm... If we don't have one why is it listed in the maintenance log as an item for the 15k service and why would they say they checked it and it was ok? I can see maybe the log is a generic list made for all Grand Marquis models but to say they checked it and it was ok starts to send up flags. Are you sure there is no cabin air filter in our MM's? The 2003 GM brochure lists a "Particulate Air Filtration System" but I don't see a mention of it in the 2004 MM brochure. Ignoring a dealer write up misstatement, could this be another decontented 300B vs 300A thing?

[michael ward]

I had a rear main oil seal leak on my 04 dtr . my tech found it when i had my first oil change when it was new . he changed it out and no problems since. also my 04 does not have a cabin filter..

[ctrcbob]

Judging by the area where you live, I assume you don't store your car for the winter.

Back when I lived up in "Snow Country", I had a Pontiac that I liked, and one year, I left it in my garage all winter, never starting it. Well, when spring came, I started it up and backed out of the garage, and it was pumping all kinds of oil out of the Rear Main Seal. The seal dried up from no use. The leak got better and better as the days went by, and within a week, the seal stopped leaking. I never stored a car all winter again, without starting it up at least once a month, and let her run until engine got HOT.

Did another stupid thing I did back in those days. Left a Buick outside all winter without moving it. (Can't remember if I started it once in a while, but did not move it). Bad thing to do. The brake pads rusted to the rotors. Had a h377 of a time breaking them loose, and even then, I had to buy new rotors and pads. Lucky the calipers were still good.

[Tallboy]

Took my Blue in for the 15K service, coolant check and possible ATF line flush plus some warranty stuff (driver door rattle, slow front passenger window and noisy dash fan). They changed the oil, cabin filter was ok, yellow coolant was good, it was time to do the AFT "found fluid contaminated & oxidized", fixed rattle, adjusted window and replaced fan motor. Not a bad outing, and looks like they did a nice job. It only took an extra day (was in Tues AM, done on Weds PM) to recieve fan motor part.
However, although I did not see any oil on the garage floor or oil useage, the Tech found "oil leaking from oil pan gasket and around bell housing" and "performed U/V dye test to verify location of leaks...found oil pan gasket seeping...removed transmission to access rear engine block - found rear main crank seal leak. Replaced both rear main crank seal and oil pan gasket with updated parts/reassembled and dye checked to verify repair...no leaks found at this time..all areas cleaned."
I did a site search and there are a couple threads on leaking rear main crank seal repairs but not much else. My seal repair was all under warranty so no $$ to me but looks like a lot of work. Also the comment about "updated parts" is curious. So this leaves me with some questions. Anybody else have this lately? Anyone know how this would be caused? "Updated parts" makes me wonder about the original parts and ponder if it could affect others. Any conditions that could cause it to happen again? Next time could be expensive. All thoughts and comments are appreciated. Cheers

Did you complain of an oil leak when you went in? If not, was it brought to your attention and "added" to the ticket? Did you "sign off" on it? It's entirely possible no repairs were ever performed. I'm not saying they weren't, just saying it's possible. For the tech to perform an oil dye test that quickly, oil would have to be hitting the ground. Sounds fishy to me.

In all my years of dealership employment, I've seen some frightening things. Sometimes, at night, I can still hear the screaming. Then I realize, I'm the one screaming.

[Blue03]

Thanks for the reply. I'm trying to keep it in a positive zone but this and cabin air filter thing have me a little spooked which is why I posted in the first place. Is there any quick way to visually know if they really did it? I'm also thinking that if they realy did remove the transmission to replace the rear main seal and oil pan seal wouldn't they have had to replace the ATF fluids under warranty anyway? I had originally planned for them to do the line flush and they did charge me a little more than a regular flush including fluids for it.

[RF Overlord]

Is there any quick way to visually know if they really did it?I'm not aware of any CV/GM/MM that has a cabin filter...


why would they say they checked it and it was ok?The company I work for makes us bring our company-issued vehicles to Jiffy Lube. Every time I go there, the receipt indicates that they checked EVERYTHING and it was all OK...I know darn well, because I watch them like a hawk, that they do NOT check everything...

[Blue03]

Judging by the area where you live, I assume you don't store your car for the winter.

Back when I lived up in "Snow Country", I had a Pontiac that I liked, and one year, I left it in my garage all winter, never starting it. Well, when spring came, I started it up and backed out of the garage, and it was pumping all kinds of oil out of the Rear Main Seal. The seal dried up from no use. The leak got better and better as the days went by, and within a week, the seal stopped leaking. I never stored a car all winter again, without starting it up at least once a month, and let her run until engine got HOT.

Did another stupid thing I did back in those days. Left a Buick outside all winter without moving it. (Can't remember if I started it once in a while, but did not move it). Bad thing to do. The brake pads rusted to the rotors. Had a h377 of a time breaking them loose, and even then, I had to buy new rotors and pads. Lucky the calipers were still good.

Thanks those are good thoughts. I don't think it sat more than 2 weeks at a time and I always take it out for a workout (at least an hour and some freeway time) if it sat that long. I do need to spent more drive time to keep the :D factor going!