Rear main seal oil leak 2005 turbo convertible.

[Deen]

Just had my trusted mechanic diagnose my oil leak, he said it was the rear main seal. Has anyone had this problem, and has it been successfully taken care of without any other further problems?

[RaineMan]

Ooh that's gonna be a pain. It's a cheap seal but takes a lot of work to get to.

[VNT]

I havent heard many people wiht rear main seal leaks.

How many miles on the car, maint history?

I would definately get a 2nd opinion before I had the seal replace.

If it is the seal, you may need a repair sleeve to go over the snout on the crank. COuld be a worn area cut into the crank.

How bad is it leaking?

If a drop or two, I would try a different oil.

[Deen]

Thank you VNT. The leak drip is about the size of a quarter when I start my PT. I just use the standard oil. I just hit 80,000 miles last week. I've had it looked at a few times and it's unfortunately the rear main. I was given an estimate of about $1,000. Fortunately the leak hasn't gotten worse. My mechanic said I still have time before it gets too bad.

[Cal Cruzer]

What trans do you have? Are any of your other fluid levels going down? I have been on these PT boards since 2003 and this is only about the 2nd time someone has mentioned it. Do you have a manual trans? Could be the clutch slave as it is located in the bellhousing too. You still have to pull the trans for that though. I just haven't heard many complaints about the rear seal.

A little more info please.

[UptownSport]

Funny, the way they're designed the seal is 'captivated' by the flexplate / flywheel.
Whenever I pull one, you can see marks on flywheel / flexplate where seal was pressed against and wore into it! This stops seal from 'blowing out'

You can see the large seal rub mark in these Neon flywheels (Seal same, they just don't use flywheels per se on most PT's)



VNT & Cal are correct that an actual leak just isn't a common issue.

Cam sensors can and do leak, valve covers, transmission front seal, torque converters will crack- So they're also right on to suspect another source that seems to be a rear main leak.

If leak is only a quarter, I'd let it alone.

Seals will leak due to blow-by- Crankcase pressure becomes extreme due to cracked piston and any/all points will start blowing oil out.
Please don't jump to conclusion that this is the issue, however.

[Deen]

Thank you everyone on the input. I really appreciate it. The car has an automatic transmission and all the fluids are at normal levels. The leak it more of a 50 cent piece to silver dollar size almost whenever I park. Granted my mechanic hasn't prepared to fix the initial leak he did clean off the area and show where it was leaking from, he seemed pretty sure.

[Deen]

The oil leak has been taken care of. After of months worrying it turned out to be a leaking Oil Pressure Switch. No drips since it was replaced. Thank you all for your input. It is really appreciated.