Worth it to do rear main seal?

[cidbronwen]

So I've got a 2002 V70 Base AW55-50SN, 155K miles. It's been in my family since we got it from the dealer and relatively well maintained. It's my daily driver and I only put 6-7k miles on it a year. Just around town, no real stop and go, not much highway driving either.

At the beginning of the year it developed an issue with the PCV system that my mechanic kind of downplayed. Anyways, after a highway drive it started heavily leaking oil. Mechanic said it'd blow out its seals and that basically it would cost more than the car was worth to fix and he didn't do that kind of work anyways.

I'm fairly mechanically inclined to so i dug into how to fix the issue and have since replaced the PCV system and redone all the cam and crank seals on the front of the engine. This resolved most the major leak issues, however there is still some oil seepage at the back of the engine. It's not coming from anywhere around the pan or the oil cooler so I suspect it's the RMS.

I'm already planning on rebuilding the front end suspension (it all original) and replacing the drive axles (cv boots have been gone for a while).

Would it be worth it to drop the transmission and replace the RMS while I've got the axles and suspension already out?

From what I understand it's not that hard, just time consuming. I'd be working it from the ground, i have access to a 24" low rise lift, a transmission jack, and the needed engine supports. I've got Vida. I've got alternate transportation to get around in while i can tinker with it.

My major concerns are breaking something unforeseen. Pretty much all the rubber and plastic in the engine bay is very brittle, I've already had to replace engine mounts and broken several electrical connectors.

So worth it to go ahead and drop transmission? Am i missing anything obvious? other stuff to replace while I'm in there? other thoughts or encouragement? Thanks.

[jonesg]

Getting to it is the biggest part of these jobs.

[cn90]

If you ever do it, use ONLY Volvo RMS.

I had this issue about 12 yrs ago (around 2010) in the 1998 V70 with 100K.
I did not have time to do it. The mechanic charged me 10h x $70/h = $700 labor.

Wait until it is a bad leak, then do it.

PS: if your axles are already out, consider new GKN boots and trans seals. I wrote the tricks in this forum.

[scot850]

Try running some RMS sealer in the engine and it may stop it as it did in an 850 we had. It has not leaked in 6 years since we did it.

The 2 brands I suggest are Blue Devil and ATP AT-205 (As it is available again). It won't make it worse, especially as you have already done the PCV and other seals.

+1 on only using the Volvo RMS seal.

Neil.

[abscate]

Do the seal. You are ina perfect position to do this without pressure and backup transportation.

Make sure you fix your pcv pressure problem first, or else you might get a do-over on the rear main seal job

[cn90]

I am just curious, once both axles are out of the car, how much longer does it take to remove the trans?

[abscate]

The first time I dropped a P2 engine I was in for 12 hours, about 4 to get transmission on ground. That was a slow and careful pace

Link to the write up is in the maintenance thread under “ Catherine”

Text on the drop time

Update today.

Elapsed so far

1 hour spent gathering tools, info, putting engine bar together
2 hours disconnecting, draining, and removing steering knuckles and driveshaft

Today
1 1/2 hours dropping subframe - this is a Southern car so things were really good rust and corrosion wise.
I found two connections not documented in VIDA - both on the front top of subframe, M6 bolts holding PS tube and ground cable - both obvious

The sub frame is not heavy - maybe 100 pounds total? Easily moved by one person, and easily lowered in stages by hand onto blocks while watching for things hanging up.

VIDA cautions to make sure the steering rack threads clear the subframe - mine did without intervention.

Prognostication

Another 2 hours to get the engine dropped, trans out, and clutch/seals sorted

Another 2 hours to reinstall

Another 1 hour to finalize.

Total - 9-10 hours. Pretty much on the book, but Im doing this on my back, whereas the book is on a lift. I could save a lot of time on a lift with the jacks and tools Volvo has. I would guess a 6 hour job.

Also replacing

Rear engine oil seal
Clutch slave
Release bearing
All cooling hoses
Noisy right front wheel bearing

[vtl]

I am just curious, once both axles are out of the car, how much longer does it take to remove the trans?

2 hours maybe. It's not that difficult. Memories fade, but the last time I had to do the valve body cover I thought that dropping the whole transmission is only twice longer.

P2 is fairly easy to work on.

[vtl]

Absolutely do RMS. While there, you may want to replace torque converter with a rebuilt one.

You need this tool: https://www.v-garage.ca/volvo-engine-re ... stallation

For transmission separation you need to tilt engine a bit:



Make sure you removed all bolts! I forgot a hidden one, near starter, and almost broke it off.

You need a very good 12-point 17 mm impact socket and impact gun to remove these guys:



May need to grind the socket, so it is square flush to the flywheel.

Taking out the seal was somewhat difficult, mainly because I was afraid to apply sufficient force. Don't scratch anything down there!

These bolts are faced to oil and have a liberal amount of high-temp sealing compound on them. Some say they reuse the bolts, only adding a new compound, I bought a new ones.

Torquing bolts was not easy, the engine was suspended in air. It help to raise it higher, place a couple of tires of something under it and lower the engine, so it would not rotate.

Also, to lock the flywheel you can stick a screwdriver through the torque converter bolt hole:



Depending on what replacement seal you get, you may need to lube the lip or install it bone dry. My original seal was stuffed with some sort of felt, the replacement didn't have it. I installed it lubed, but was warned by more knowledgeable mechanics that a new style seals have to be installed dry, with plastic sleeve. Apparently my seal's design was not new enough, no more leak.

[vtl]

Forgot to mention, there's one "difficult" bolt, right behind the crankshaft speed sensor:



Either install it before mating transmission to engine, or modify the bolt