Wow, can't seem to shake a leaking pan or main seal.

my last couple motors, can't seem to keep it's oil in the engine. Go for a drive and when you park it you'll have a little spot, sometimes 2 inches in diameter or 3.
typically main seal area.

today the front of the pan is leaking under the timing cover..geesh, I greased the inside and out on it. On the other motors those end seals held up nice. But all 3 seem to have main seal problems.

Bad thing is it's a fresh motor.

I imagine this winter I'll be pulling that oil pan and trying it again, and I believe you can slip a main seal in a 340 with the crank still in correct?

Any other ideas? Do guys at machine shops stagger/offset the main seals like the are supposed to?

Stagger the seal? Sure. I do.
Is the seal in properly? There is a right way and a wrong way. The lip should point IN toward the engine.
Another idea... LOOSE oil galley plugs behind the flywheel! I had the oil pan off of a 440 3 times and finally traced the leak to those dang plugs.

I had checked those galley plugs before i installed the engine, the shop also used the sealant to surround them.

I clean all gasket surfaces with carb or brake cleaner, make sure the surfaces are straight and have no burs. Then I use top quality gaskets. I've been using the Milidon crushproof pan gaskets with good results. I always supplement all mating surfaces with Permatex Ultra Seal, making sure to massage it into the surface prior to bolting things up.

The last rear main I did in the car was the Mr Gasket silicon seal set. I believe only the side gaskets are actually silicon, but they work nicely. Attention to detail, cleanliness, Permatex Ultra Seal in the correct amounts and slightly off-set the seal. No leaks.

I did have to slide the aluminum seal holder in and out a few times to get the side gaskets just in the right spot, so they were not sticking out or sticking in to far.

Thanks for the info. I'll write it down. Besides this and a few tuning issues I'm really enjoying the fresh car. Sometimes a bummer, at least if I know I can get to that rear seal without pulling everything I can deal with it sooner if I have to.

Last pan leak I had turned out to be the input shaft seal for the tranny, a pretty common thing that appears to be pan related. Just a thought...

i thought it too at first but it is motor oil so i think its around the crank

i heard of people machining a tiny bit off the ends of the aluminum cap

The threaded holes in the block for the pan bolts all have differant depth... I had a bolt bottoming before fully clamping the gasket/seal in the back on driver side. Found out when I saw some shinny threads on the end of the bolt.

Quote:

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i thought it too at first but it is motor oil so i think its around the crank

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Are you positive? Red tranny oil picks up dirt as it drools down the pump housing and around the bottom until it finally migrates to your garage floor, losing all traces of red color.

Anyway, I mostly am posting this for others reading this thread!