My ‘48 delivery sedan has a 216 that has been great on gas but bad on oil. 20 miles per gallon, 100 miles a quart. Give or take. Not a puff of smoke. When I bought the vehicle, I knew it had a rear main-seal problem. I figured OK I should be able to get that fixed? It wasn’t long until the ugly-truth had reared it’s head. I had inquired with nearly everyone I met, “Do you know of anyone who can fix a rope-seal”? The expressions on their faces always changed to looks of deep-sympathy, and horror! Oh those embarrassing stains, I left on driveways of those whom praised my car moments before. Most people don’t appreciate someone coming over and pouring about a half-a-cup of oil on their driveway. Anyway, I found an old-schooler who said he would give it a try, but when he found out I have a rebuilt-motor coming, he said forget it. He didn’t want to bother anymore. Geeesh...It’s been months now. As I see it, I have a new-motor coming so what do I have to lose? Damm it, I’m going to do it myself! I already learned how to change a tran-misssishi-ion! People tell me the crankshaft will have to be dropped, others say the only way to do it is to remove the engine flip it up side down and do it right. Some say, Just loosen them slightly. Others say, once you touch those babbited bearings, it will never be the same. Most say, the success rate is 50-50. I have read articles and post in the internet that talk of using a sneaky-pete to pull it out, and pull through a new one. I purchased a NOS asbestos seal, a graphite, and a rubber seal. I now have a Sneaky Pete’s and an oil-pan gasket on the way. Here is the kicker. A local enthusiast who I had told about the situation, suggested I go tho auto-zone and buy a bottle of rear-seal repair. It was about $4 and it worked for him. Magic-elixir? Side show miracle-cures? The stuff right next to Get 900 miles per gallon? No way! Do I look like an idiot? Give me a break! Never! I put on sunglasses and a hat, snuck right over to Auto-zone and poured it in out back of the building where I knew no one could see me. I’m amazed. IT ACTUALLY WORKED! Not a drop? Hmmm.... Here’s the questions: Is the it going to last? If it fails, is it possible for this amateur mechanic to fix it? Has anyone else tried the Sneaky-Pete method? Is this a huge undertaking? Am I panicking over nothing? Should I just throw in the wrench and drive it to it‘s doom? Thanks!
It will or it won't, maybe to a varying degree. It's not the destination but rather the adventure of the journey. Yes, but the mechanic will be less amateur when finished. Yes, maybe 3-4 times with varying degrees of success. Depends on facilities available to use. Lift or a creeper? Not if the driveway belongs to a lady friend you want to maintain a relationship with...... Refer to #4, did it when I was much younger with no lift. Today, even with a lift, I'd be going with the adventure route to see just how good the snake oil is. If it's not broke now, don't fix it. I've made a lot of extra work for myself over the years with monkeyitis. I'd probably be bumping the replacement motor a little higher on my list of priorities though...... All the best, Ed
I do rope seals without loosening the crank. A sheetmetal screw in one side of the upper half to pull on, and a flat nose punch on the other side to get it to move while rotating the crank. Once it breaks free, it rolls right out as you rotate the crank while pulling the screw. Stop leak; It swells old rubber seals and apparently also your rope, so I would run what you have, rather than change the rope. What is lost by seeing how long it goes? and do you feel lucky enough to be able to try a new rope instead?....as Dirty Harry said; "so tell me, are you feelin' lucky? "
My daily driver is a Caddy DeVille and it developed a slow leak from somewhere in the engine. The dealer who services it said the fix was to pull the engine (Northstar) and repair it, to the tune of about $ 4000. Then he told me to go pick up a bottle of Lucas Stop Leak and put it in as he has had customers do that with great success. So I did, and he was right, no more leak. I'm not a fan of snake oil additives normally, but I have had good success with Lucas products over the years. Don
I was told about these things by my father about 60 years ago. It makes what can be a frustrating job a lot easier. Don't try using it to get the old one out. Use needle nose pliers or whatever kind of pliers you can grip it with to pull the old one out. It can be done without dropping the crank. Sometimes rotating the crank will help start it. A little push on the other end can help.
If you search it, the answer will come. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55331&highlight=rope+seal
For us who were kids in the 50's and getting early 50's cars to work on when they were junk used cars in the early 60's, this was one of the first repairs everyone learned to do. It was not hard or rocket surgery. We did this on the ground, car run up on 4X4's. I'm sure the Chevy didn't even need to have the motor mounts disconnected. Just slide the pan right out of there. Changing the seal was so simple. Very basic repair. Roll the upper out, roll the new one in. Rear seal leak keeps the hand brake linkage lubed and rust free.
My dad said he used to sharpen the end of a small diameter piece of stainless wire and push it around and through the seal, expanding it. Don't know how well it worked, but I would do the snake oil or the replacement first, if I was you.
my car pisses oil after a good drive, i guess i'd try the additive way first and then when i get time switch out the rear main seal.
Great link to Rocky’s play-by-play seal-change, and I have read all the replies to my post. To be honest scares the hell out of me! I see some had great luck. For me, sometimes I feel if it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all! (-Albert King) It appears the right thing to do is hope the snake-oil holds out until the new-motor is ready. I love to drive my car, and to me that’s what it is all about. (If it’s not a driver, I probably wouldn’t be able to afford to own it anyway.) If I can’t drive it around, I get all depressed. So for the last few month, I feel like I’ve been in a race against time. Borrowed time! It already did snow here, but it melted away in a few days. Other than some rain, we have had some great driving weather the last few weeks. It won’t last....I guar-ron-tee-it. Once it snows here, your done. You don’t drive a 64 year old car in road-salt. It would essentially melt the car in to a pile of rust before the geese fly home in the spring. Not to mention the increased risk of getting slammed by the hoards of maniacs drivers sliding around sideways all winter. [In the Boston area, defensive driving means cutting off the other driver before he gets you! Some say using directionals only gives the enemy the advantage. Personally, I try and drive as safely as possible when in my 48’. Not an easy task, I feel like I‘m surrounded by angry hornets!] So, when the flakes really begin to fly, is the time to do the more serious work. I won’t be going anywhere anyway, and will have months to fiddle and play. They tell me the motor will be ready in a couple more weeks, so perhaps I really should just concentrate on that as RidgeRunner advises. Surely, once I get the new-motor in my hands I will forget all about changing that stinkin’ old seal anyway. Yep...no lift here. Once again, everyone in the H.A.M.B. helped me think “Real-World“, and allow me to make a more knowledgeable decision. I’m going to punt.... Thank you all again!”
chevy 48 im in a similar situation. except you get way better miles to a quart then me. the week from aug 28 through sep 4 i went through 9 quarts of oil...pause for people to catch their breath. yes i said 9 quarts. my rear and front seals are toast. I bought this "magic" fluid from the big W (walmart) and it was as thick as molasses. it help but im still leaking. it actually help alot but im still goin for a rebuild.
What are using for oil? My experience is that modern synthetics leak easier than others. I prefer to run a quart of Lucas with 4 qts normal old oil.
^^^^^THIS^^^^^ BTW- That car looks familiar. It looks like one I used to see up in Somersworth NH parked outside a Meineke a few years ago.
Could be? Not many of these around here that are not Hot-Rod-ed out. I've owned it only a couple of months, so don't know where it has been? I'm surprised it made it all the way to New Hampshire in the condition it was in. I have fixed a list of items as long as your arm. I was attracted to the underside being rust free and solid as a rock. It had great potential for a restoration. I'm diggin' it! Loads of fun!
Chevy48, One of the major casket makers(Fel-pro, Victor,Chicago.?) has a rubber replacement for the rope seals on the early SBC. They might have one for the 216 also. The hardest part about he rope type is getting the new one in with out destroying it. I have fixed several pemanantly by driving a pre-curved peiece of coathanger wire around behind the old upper seal to expand it and then useing a new lower seal. cutting accuratly with slight protrusion is critical also
Nice. And nice tech from Rocky, thank you Tman. My FE is a leaker and the clutch is soaked. I think I know what I may do this winter now. I have had the same reaction from alot of people about replacing it.... Most say just put in a new engine. Maybe I'll even get ambitious and replace the other leaky gaskets, too.
48 One method that has worked good for me is to use cotton string for the upper half seal. Remove old rope, then start stuffing the oil soaked string in. A good wooden chopstick, and popcicle sticks works for me. pack it in tight from both sides, using a small hammer. Use new rope seal for the lower half. Soak it in oil first. Leave it a little long on both ends. Bruce Works good Lasts long time
The old Pontiac Factory Service Bulletin has worked for me several times. You leave the crank in, just pull the rear cap. Take a brass drift and tap on the ends of the upper half of the seal to push them back up in the block about 1/8" or so and expand the upper part of the seal (similar to the string method above). Put a new lower half in the cap and leave it to extend out of the cap a bit to fit into the space made from packing the upper seal. Apply sealant to the cut ends, stuff them in the holes and torque the cap down. Sure beats fighting the old seal out. Shawn
I had that same problem with the original 283 that was in my '58 after I rebuilt the engine. I tried 4 new seals, each time trying something different, listening to an older mechanic friend of mine. i tried installing the seal so part of the top was in the cap, and part of the bottom was in the block. Didn't work. I tried staking the cap, thinking maybe the seal was turning. It wasn't. I finally went with a reground crank, still leaked. I finally put in a 350 and the problem was solved. I later sold the 283, telling them the problem; let them try to fix it. Later, I heard that a one piece seal was being marketed.
Lotek, that sounds quite plausible, and coming from a service bulletin, I suspect there is a pretty good success rate. I like it!
Pontiac stuck with the rope seal right up until the Pontiac V8 was phased out in 1981. Poncho owners (like me) are used to owning vehicles with a "dynamic chassis lubrication system" We have neoprene seals that fix most of the problems now, problem is, they usually require a teardown and some machine work to do the fix.
Had a customer who put three rope seals in and still had the leak. He brought it in and a quick inspection found that the camshaft plug was leaking.
back when i was a young buck i used to drive shims from both ways and put the bottom 1/2 in new, just found my shim driver and the expanding net puller that i have never used hey we had to get them going for sat nite in the 60's so we had to get it right and do it fast could assemble the pistons rings and head in about 2 hours then
UPDATE: Well the sealant slowly became less and less effective. It is back to leaking nearly as bad as before. I suppose I could add some more, but the motor is almost out of the car as I type this. Anyways. just a heads up. Thanks!
Thanks for the update, that ends that debate...no snake oil for me.. My son's engine has the same issue, only in this case after installing a new seal. Leaked right after install, now that it has been in awhile the leak has slowed considerably...
My experience exactly the same. And although I wasn't there back in the day to back this up, I've always been led to believe older style motors very often left a little oil in the driveway from day one. Paul
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