Howdy pardners…. what all you good folks using for your main oils seals on type 1 motors - silicone, dual lip, red ones black ones? Basically, which the has the best chance of not failing immediately cos it’s rubbish. Yeeehaaa!!
Doesn't really matter, 'tis the condition of the sealing surface of the flywheel that causes early failure.
Seals fitted exactly at 90 degrees to the crankshaft into an engine with minimal end float, without a groove in the nose of the flywheel under the seal work best. The first two things cause oil that gets under the seal to tend to get wiped off on the other side .. the undesired groove lets it through easier too.
Thanks folks - I’ll take a close look at the flywheel sealing surface when I have it apart. The end float thing is a different matter as I think it is a bit too big to do much about!!!
Give the flywheel “snout” a good rub with grey Scotchbrite. Should be fine. Also don’t forget to change the o-ring in the flywheel.
Well, you haven't seen it yet - I had to chuck my flywheel because of this, and fit a different depth seal to a better but still grooved one. The other option is a speedy sleeve.
LP would more likely have slapped it together and crossed his fingers if he couldn't find a good one in his pile. His parts pile was parts, then a sheet of ply, then more parts, more ply etc up to the ceiling. I bet the best stuff was early LP, right at the bottom and totally inaccessible. lol
Maybe, but there were cheaper quicker approaches and with the engine out I had no transport. Getting it the right way round and centred in a lathe might not be so straightforward either. The groove was deep too.
You know the spring thing we in the seal? - I saw a man take it out, Unscrew it from itself so it was a straight spring, shorten it and then screw in back into a circle before shoving it back in the seal to increase the tension on the flywheel Spigoty bit. What do you thank abut that then? Good, Bad, Ugly?
I saw that. It’s pointless IMO. Who knows more about oil seals - the Germans at Elring, or some bloke on YouTube ? Folk seem to obsess about this bloody seal, but if it goes in straight and the flywheel surface is halfway decent, it’ll do its job. A top tip when you are putting it in is to lightly file/chamfer the edges of the hole it goes in to. If there are any burrs, it can shave rubber off the outer surface of the seal. They’re a pretty tight fit.
Another thing is to remember to make sure the seal /flywheel nose is lightly oiled before you start the engine, otherwise you can risk wearing the seal fast as the rubber grips metal on first startup after installation before oil gets to it.
PS If you are going to splash out on a fitting tool, rather than bashing it in with a hammer (which does work if you’re careful), the CSP oil seal tool works pretty well. It’s got a slight taper on it: crank it in to press the seal in flush, then turn it round and crank on the other side, which pushes the seal below the case surface. Recommended https://www.machine7.com/product.php?xProd=12301
^ On the subject of those seal fitting tools, DON'T be tempted by the simple flat disc ones - they hit the crank dowels before the seal is anywhere near in place though I guess they are ok to get it started. If you ever tried to remove those dowels... you know how hard it can be if not impossible... there's always one that won't shift.
I have one of those for the last time I changed a seal - it was 15 yrs ago!! It went well enough I thought - I reshimmed the end float out of the (very worn) previous motor - it was in spec but I think I may have taken up too much of the wear as unbeknownst to me it wouldn’t turn. I only found out when the starter motor caught fire on the initial attempt to start her up. I am thinking I may have a change of career direction and set up as a classic VW workshop…I has spannerz
