front main seal hellp!

[8chino8]

just wondering how easy is it to replace the front main seal. to me it looks like all i have to do is just remove the underdrive pulley and its right there. but i also would like to know how easy or hard is it to remove the timing cover, i heard rumors about having to remove the entire head to get to it, is that really necessary?

[T-rev]

you can replace the seal without pulling the cover if you're careful. The fear is when you're pulling the seal out you damage either the front cover or the snout of the crank. I think the fsm shows how to pull the seal using some sort of pick instrument.

If you remove the front cover you have to either pull the head or pull the upper oil pan. If you dont, you will screw up the head gasket and run the risk of a leak at the corner where the upper oil pan meets the block meets the front cover.

When I did mine, the motor was on a stand so things were easier. If you're a contortionist or like being upside down you'll have an easy time.