dailysleaze Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I'm doing the timing belt on my 300Tdi, and inspired by this recent thread I bought a genuine and pattern crankshaft seal ERR4575 to see what the difference is. Comparing them and seeing that the £13.50 genuine seal appeared to be the browny Viton material compared to the £1.50 more blackish nitrile material I had a smug sense of satisfaction. Surprisingly though, the cheaper nitrile seal is *identical*. It even has the part number stamped in it. They even look more alike than the seal that came off the vehicle, which has been leaking However, when going to fit the Genuine seal this morning, I noticed that there are two splits in it! Now, normally the solution is obvious - send it back, wait and get a new one before carrying on. It's annoying as i'd allocated this weekend to doing the job. The problem is, the Genuine part is the one that's poor quality. The fact that the cheaper part is identical apart from the material it's very tempting to think "It should be alright"? The markings are the same: I guess the question is, is Nitrile an acceptable material for a crankshaft seal or should I wait for a (I presume Viton) Genuine seal, which at the moment doesn't have good track record of quality? Although the seal that came off the vehicle that was leaking appears to be black like it's nitrile. Usually it'd be a easy decision, but there's a couple extra things in the mix with this scenario! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danebrewer Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 hmm, for seals and things like that I always go either genuine or buy OEM from paddocks or LR series or whoever, if the seal really is cracked you should be able to take it back to wherever you got it from and get a replacement, for things like that I always fit OEM/Genuine for peace of mind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoSS Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Those look a lot like cuts rather than splits. I know it sounds stupid but did you open the bag with a knife, or was the bag damaged? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boydie Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 When I replaced my crakshaft on my 300TDi some 6 months ago ( the crank bolt came loose ripping out the threads and the resulting loose pulley destroyed the woodruf key) I replaced all the main and big end bearings and front and rear seals, the rear seal (genuine LR) also had a split in it, so I took it back and they replaced it without question, so it seems there may be a common fault in the manufacturing process perhaps ? Incidentally I had the two tiny little woodruf keys machined out of the new crankshaft - also genuine LR - and replaced with a single long keyway, far more secure, why LR have two small keys is beyond me, especially considering the inertia weight being applied to the one retaining the crank pulley, Nissan Patrols have a considerable failure rate in this regard as their crank pulley is about twice the weight of the one on the 300TDi and this practice is a "standard modification/upgrade" with Nissans much like ours in cross drilling the input gear in the transfer box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dailysleaze Posted February 1, 2014 Author Share Posted February 1, 2014 Opened the bag with scissors well away from the seal. I'm resigned to the fact that the job will have to wait til I can get another genuine seal. It's just annoying when you try to prevent part problems by buying the best quality part! Looking at nitrile as a material, it can't really cope with temperatures beyond 100 celcius, which must be pretty close to some engine temps I've also managed to mash up my ERR7143 front cover seal trying to fit it. I'm thinking of going back to ERR4576 oil seal for ease Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boydie Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 It gets well over 100 degrees !! Julie and I use the "valley" between the rocker cover and inlet manifold on my 300Tdi to heat up our pasties when we are on the road, we take them out of the fridge/freezer, wrap them in alfoil, pop them in the valley, drive for another 30 minutes and hey presto, hot pasties Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cackshifter Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Boydie, can I ask, did you just make a new single long key for the new keyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 You can buy keys in any length, or buy a length of key steel to cut to the size you're after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dailysleaze Posted February 3, 2014 Author Share Posted February 3, 2014 The retailer has sent out a new one just from me sending them a photo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve b Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 That's a good response from your supplier I always use gen seals on the engine - not ******G type or OE and had a rear crank seal go in much the same way within a year of fitting . It has , so far , been the only occasion in over 20 years of LandRover fixing cheers Steveb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boydie Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Cackshifter, Sorry for my tardy reply, the engineering company who machined the keyway in the crankshaft also supplied the key, my guess it was cut from a length of stock keyway and dressed with a radius at both ends to match the keyway groove. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverik Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Most seals have a shelf life of around 5 years (in the marine industry) - I try and apply it to rubbery items I put on my trucks now, - from that statment, the problems should be quite obvious with regard to buying seals. Most seals I've bought from memory even aftermarket have at least a packing date if not a manufacturing date also on the packaging. I'm not saying every rubber seal and the like needs changing every 5 years, I'd just be a bit warey of installing a seal that may have been sat on a shelf for 10-15 years. "New old stock". - always worth looking out for a date. * but I notice from the photos you've posted there is no manufacturing date... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelw Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Interesting comment there Mav, gotta look at my new genuine seal now for potential problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cackshifter Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Boydie, No problem & many thanks, that's how I imagined it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dailysleaze Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 The LR label says "2012 Made in India" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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