Blown crank seal on 5l diesel

[Petemcc]

On the weekend, after some heavy work with the loud pedal in a bit of a bog the crank seal started leaking quite substantially on my hilux.

No leak at all before this.

Within a few min the steering dampener was covered in oil. Still had plenty on the dipstick but towed it home to be safe.

What is involved in making replacing the seal? Also why would it go like this? Too many revs? Too much movement in main bearings buggering the seal? Or is this a common thing.

Cheers,
Pete

[derk]

prob too much crankcase pressure and an old seal ready to fall apart but I wouldn't think those things would be able to rev high enough to create enough pressure, is the pcv working and the engine able to breath properly

[Petemcc]

Turbo + blow by could be the culprit?

Have been thinking of a rebuild for a while... Maybe I should do a compression test..

[derk]

or smack and new seal in and thrash it for another 10-20 years

[churchill]

^^ Yeah. How many km's on the engine, what brand was the last seal, who installed, is there any shaft damage and have you been to Woodhill? These are other factors that will contribute to seal failure you should to take into account...

I would make sure the shaft is in good condition, put a new seal in and see how it goes.

[Petemcc]

engine has over 350km on it. I wasn't going to rebuild it just because of the seal. It's getting pretty long in the tooth. I did the valve clearances a few years ago and was surprised of far out they were.

It's just weird that it let go after a thrashing rather than starting to leak slowly over time. The whole engine was clean as before that. Though in saying that a while ago the hose from the crank breather did kink and was causing over pressure which made it blow a bit of blue smoke. Fixed that and it was all good but it might have given the seal a hard time and this was just enough to tip it over the edge.

Whats involved in doing the seal? Radiator out, crank pulley and harmonic balancer off. Much else? Will I have to drop the sump or take off the cambelt?

[Pj_Marsh]

Might get away with just clamping the cam belt on the top pulley's