Engine Crankshaft Seal Leaking

tharaka jayasinghe · August 2, 2011

Dear experts,

My car is a Nissan N16 manual. At the penultimate full service (about few months back)I was informed about an engine oil leak and after an investigation it was found out that the leak was from the crankshaft seal. I got it replaced and things were fine since then. About two months back I noticed a slight drop of the engine oil level,but didn't really do anything about it since it wasn't that serious.

But at the last full service (about a week ago) I was informed about another oil leak and this time the officer at the service station confirmed that the leak was again from crankshaft seal (I had run about 5000 km since the replacement of the crankshaft seal). I got it checked and even the mechanic confirmed that.

What do u think about this issue?. Have you got any idea as to why the crankshaft seal needs to be replaced within a short period of time or is this normal?

Rgds,

Tharaka

VVTi · August 2, 2011

Did you use a high quality seal? Was the job done properly? If it was done properly then there is no way it can fail after 5000kms.

jdnet · August 2, 2011

Not normal. Did you use a genuine oil seal? was your mechanic a common species of mokey mechanics? He may have damaged the seal when putting it in.

toosea · August 2, 2011

As already said the quality of the oil seal is important.

Further from my experience the oil seal could cut in to the metal and thereby create a gap at that point which would make oil leak. If this is the case could be an expensive repair job. I "guess" this gap would have to be filled by by metal and ground to fit.

I am not sure whether this could happen in a petrol vehicle, but as my understanding goes this a common ailment in diesel vehicles.

In your case it could well be a bad quality oil seal. I used to remember the good quality oil seals had a dark brownish colour, while there were low quality ones that had a lighter red or pink hue.

ShintaroX · August 2, 2011

Dude either the issue is with the quality of the seal or the quality of the mechanic or your leak is something else (which goes back to the quality of the mechanic). Not a particularly helpful observation, I apologise. I'd take it to Toyota Lanka for something like this bro not cause they are better (they ain't, a monkey from your garage probably got fired and got a job at toyota lanka), or cause they are cheaper (they ain't) but they'll take more responsibility over the matter and you can be sure the parts are quality. My two cents which I give for free

Shehan_WCC · August 2, 2011

it could also be a damaged crankshaft ,the shaft could be causing this.Coming to the point i guess your car just needs a new oil seal.Maybe the mechanic damaged the earlier seal or the replaced seal is a low quality one,like the others mentioned.

toyota sucks · August 2, 2011

On 8/2/2011 at 7:39 AM, ShintaroX said:

Dude either the issue is with the quality of the seal or the quality of the mechanic or your leak is something else (which goes back to the quality of the mechanic). Not a particularly helpful observation, I apologise. I'd take it to Toyota Lanka for something like this bro not cause they are better (they ain't, a monkey from your garage probably got fired and got a job at toyota lanka), or cause they are cheaper (they ain't) but they'll take more responsibility over the matter and you can be sure the parts are quality. My two cents which I give for free

Assuming u'r a male i suggest u to go to the female toilet at toyota lanka,it will seal properly

It is better than taking a n16 to toyota lanka,

and for repairs it's the worst place u can take even a toyota to.

Even A*W is a better company for repairs,

but the best thing is an experienced indipendant mechanic than the trainees working at companies,

But be careful of the monkey species that jd mentioned

Edited August 2, 2011 by toyota sucks

Rohnd · August 2, 2011

On 8/2/2011 at 4:44 AM, tharaka jayasinghe said:

Dear experts,

My car is a Nissan N16 manual. At the penultimate full service (about few months back)I was informed about an engine oil leak and after an investigation it was found out that the leak was from the crankshaft seal. I got it replaced and things were fine since then. About two months back I noticed a slight drop of the engine oil level,but didn't really do anything about it since it wasn't that serious.

But at the last full service (about a week ago) I was informed about another oil leak and this time the officer at the service station confirmed that the leak was again from crankshaft seal (I had run about 5000 km since the replacement of the crankshaft seal). I got it checked and even the mechanic confirmed that.

What do u think about this issue?. Have you got any idea as to why the crankshaft seal needs to be replaced within a short period of time or is this normal?

Rgds,

Tharaka

This area is an high temperature,highly torqued rotational area.

Yes, it is true that the quality of the seal and the skill of the mechanic, both contribute for the correct job.