ka24de front main seal

[hai1206vn]

I'm replacing the front seal very soon. First time doing it, I know how it goes, but does the oil need to be drained first? I'm thinking if all the oil will be in the pan then there shouldn't be any spill when I pull the old seal.

Pls don't just tell me to change the oil if you don't know. Thanks.

[motoman399]

no you dont need to drain the oil. it will not come out of the seal

[OM3GA]

why would you not just change the oil at the same time though? Anyways when the car has not ran for awhile the oil actually sits higher than the oil pan gasket (at least a little bit). When you change the seal there may be a little bit of oil that comes out but not much. You will be fine unless the front of the car is pointing downwards at a steep angle.

[motoman399]

Anyways when the car has not ran for awhile the oil actually sits higher than the oil pan gasket (at least a little bit).

are you sure on that?

[slidestyle69]

duh oil molecules multiply when they are not bothered..it's science

[gigabit240]

Anyways when the car has not ran for awhile the oil actually sits higher than the oil pan gasket (at least a little bit).

are you sure on that?

Yea he's right. When the engine is running all of the oil goes to different parts of the motor. When it sits for a while, all of the oil goes to the bottom.

[hai1206vn]

so i replace the seal today with all the oil inside. Nothing seeped out.

[OM3GA]

Awesome, and yes i am sure on that. I remember when i had an oil pan gasket go bad on a level parking surface. After i let it sit over night there would be a tiny bit of oil seeping out of where the gasket on the oil pan had failed. Usually you get little to no oil out of the front seal when replacing it depending on the angle in which the car is sitting.

Glad to hear you got it done! The best rule for putting in the front main is to make it 100% flush with the front cover. You are able to put it in further than that but usually you do not want to. The main reason is because the crank pulley end is tapered, if the tapered end is on one of the seals lipped edges it will not seal completed and may cause a leak. Just figured i would share some hopefully useful info if someone were to open this thread in search of help. Given the 13% that actually use the search button before posting i figured it would help.

[motoman399]

actually, the oil sits below the gasket surface on level ground. im sure what was happening in your case is that the oil was sloshing around i was just seeping from that (running down the side) now if you were parking on a hill or slope, there would be a different story.

[hai1206vn]

I did it with only the front end jacked up, so all the oil must have been at the back of the engine.