camshaft oil seal replacement?

[MrDove]

My cruiser is experiencing a minor oil leak coming from two places. I do alot of work on the cruiser myself but I had a mechanic look at it this time. They said that it was leaking from the seal around the oil pan and also the crankshaft oil seal.

I looked through my service manual and the instructions for getting access to the camshaft oil seal are fairly involved. I'm not positive but it looks like it might require removing the engine in order to get access to the area.

Is this correct? Does the engine have to be removed (completely or partially) to get at the camshaft oil seal? How complex is this to replace? My mechanic quoted me $400 to replace the seal. That's not really in the budget right now.

[CREWZIN]

Looking over my Haynes manual, the same procedure for replacing the timing belt is used to get to the camshaft oil seal, in fact the timing belt has to come off. The labor involves (as I just found out from getting estimates) is about 5 1/2 hours according to the book without parts and all the other things they throw in so $400 isn't bad.

My lowest estimate was $550 if the air conditioning has to be messed with but that also included a flush and change of all the coolant since the water pump will be changed also. That's with me bringing in all the parts.

You asked if the engine has to be moved and I'm pretty sure the engine mount(s) have to be undone so they can gain access for the timing belt so it probably means they do have to move the engine. That's just a guess.

You said "Crankshaft" in your first paragraph but "Camshaft" after that and in your title so I guess you mean "Camshaft. Either way, I think the labor and access is the same.