vp ad31 crankshaft oil seal

[gery w]

hi does anyone have experiance of changing the front crankshaft oil seal on a vp ad31 as mine appears to have a slight leak which has only just started after a three month lay up. Any advice/part no's would be appreciated thanks Gerry .

 

[volvopaul]

Parts, the seal.

Tools, volvopenta polygon hub puller.

 

[[2068]]

But how do you undo the central nut in the first place?
It looks enormous - what's the best way of stopping the engine from going round when undoing it?

 

[Peanuts]

Hi

Volvopaul has listed the items required, however not everyone has the VP tooling. This is method that I use. However I have to ask, is the reason for the leak due to over filling the oil. I have seen more front seals leaking purely because the oil level is too high - please check this before doing any further work on the engine.

The seal from Keypart cost £7.51 by the way.

There is a method of locking the crankshaft by inserting a pin (8mm I think) into a hole in the engine block just forward of the drive housing on the right hand side looking from the front of the engine (about the 2 o'clock position) I don't use that purely because of the spanner I use, I'll explain later.
Crack the bolts holding the vibration damper (6 bolts) then release the tension on the circulation belt. Undo and remove the 6 bolts and lift off the damper, it is heavyish for it's size. With the belt being slack you can remove the grooved pulley. I then have a flat (1/4" thick) ring spanner that fits on the now exposed pulley that has holes in it that allow me to pick up on some of the bolt holes in the pulley. With this spanner in about the 7 to 8 o'clock postion I insert usually 3 bolts and tighten. With a piece of wood under the lowest corner of the spanner and between the engine bay floor or convient point I can then crack the crankshaft bolt (the large one in the middle of the pulley) and undo it a few turns. Now the outer part of this flat spanner is larger than the pulley, this allows me to use a 3 legged puller, that is why I have not removed the centre bolt as I use the head to rest the centre part of the puller on, the legs go over the edge of the flat spanner that is protruding over the pulley. Once I have started to move the pulley you just have to make sure there is enough slack on the bolt before pulling again on the puller. I know it might sound a bit of a bind but it does work and it is not as bad as it sounds. Just carry on with this and the centre pulley will soon be off.

Remove the old seal, most people would use a screwdriver, better still a small pry bar/seal removal tool.

I apply a light wipe of the seal with some grease (VP state molybdendisulphide grease) and postion seal in the timimg gear, I have a drift for that but either a large socket (outer diameter of seal is 75mm) or just careful tapping with a nylon hammer.

I repostion my flat ring spanner on the pulley that when fitted will give me a convenient postion to allow me to tighten the crankshaft bolt, then using a paint stripper hot air gun warm the pulley up (VP state 100 degrees) I just warm it up until a comfortable hot to touch, not red hot!! Then line up the pulley, insert the bolt and tighten, let the pulley cool and then torque to 180Nm.

Refit the items you removed earlier and here is a long winded post on how to change the seal, I could probably have done the job in the time it took to write it!!

I hope this is of some help and has not confused you even more.

 

[Pendana]

Thanks very much Peanuts, copied and filed for future reference.

Eddie

 

[gery w]

brilliant post you make this job sound easy! thanks again