I am going to be replacing the oil pan gasket tomorrow. Want to replace the rear main seal while in there....any tricks or booby traps?

 

nope, just use lots of lube for the top piece and make sure the tabs face the front of the engine for the cap seal. also use a dab of rtv on the tabs.\

there are a few decent write-ups around. it's very straight forward and actually quite simple.

and don't get the cheap seal. or oil pan gasket for that matter.

good luck.

 

Get the double lip seal and make sure there is no rtv on the metal services,it will cause a clearance issue with the bearing and cause a leak. It is ok to put a little on the seal ends.

 

Ended up not doing it. O'Reilly's only had 1 rear main seal and I will wait until I have 2 in hand, as this is my only vehicle for a family of 4.

I did replace the valve cover gasket, which was leaking. Gonna wash off the entire engine with Automotive Simple Green and see if the oil pan gasket is actually leaking, or if all the oil was from the valve cover gasket leak. If the oil pan is leaking, I will attack that and the rear main seal, next Sunday.