Replace cork "T" seals

[Allan Soffientini]

Hello everybody,

One more oil leak....

I'm looking for a sound advice to stop an engine oil leak between the sump and the bellhousing of my 1985 N/A Ninety (oil running down the bellhousing).

Sourcing this forum I've found that the cork T seals at the edges of the main bearing cap need to be renewed along with the sump seal; so can someone tell me if is possible to replace them with the engine in place, unbolting the sump and removing the two bolts holding the bearing cap and the cap itself?

Alternatively, in an old post, someone suggested to remove the sump and compress a bit the exposed edge of the cork to fill the empty space that let the oil to escape and then seal it with istant gesket. Has someone else used this trick before?

Thank you very much in advance

Bye from Italy

Allan

[Tetsu0san]

I replaced the rubber ones on my 300Tdi with the engine and gearbox in place. If you are careful you should be able to do it. Just take off the sump and remove the 2 bolts on the crank bearing and pull it out. But get a couple of spare seals are you are bound sure to stretch or split one on the first attempt.

[Allan Soffientini]

Thank You!

I'll buy a lot of seals....

Anyway I've heard about a T seal fitting tool, it works like a guide, and maybe worth the money... or not?

Thanks

Allan

[Tetsu0san]

Didn't need it myself although the haynes manual (or what ever I read about how to do it) does say you need one. I think I ended up using feeler guages to help it in.

User some silicon sealer for lubrification and this will help it seal when it dries off. Might be interesting to know if the later rubber ones will fit in place of the cork ones...

[stephensmith]

200TDI Defender 93. Had engine out to remove ladder bolts. Vertical rubber t-seal legs were shortened on rear main bearing cap so decided to take the cap off and replace (with rubber-Reinz lwr engine gaskets). Made pair of 70 degree angled blocks to bolt on either side of cap recess to guide seals in. Trimmed off the 90 degree edge on the outer side of the t-seal horizontal legs (V. small amount with scalpel). Greased ends of caps and rubber seals and slope of steel guides and oiled crank journal. Then wriggled, shoved and finally, tapped cap in with a rubber hammer. Checked for correct orientation and screwed in the old bolts. Left at present because unsure whether, like the fibre ones), you should allow them to shrink back a little before cutting off the protruding rubber ends. Will trim later and replace bolts with new and torque up. I chose 70 degrees for the guides because I had no information.