The rear main seal is leaking in the hemi crate motor that I put in my cuda. Has anybody replaced one of these with the motor still in the car, or does it have to be pulled?

if you pull the center link etc & jack the eng up I would think the pan can be dropped. I think the rear main seal area is like a BB but here is a BTT for ya.

I've done two seals on two different 440 Cudas. As far as the center link, just disco the pitman and the idler (leave the tie rods alone), the assembly will swing down about 6 inches and give plenty of clearance.

Pretty easy as far as in-car oil pan removal.

Then you can break the mains and drop the crank just a bit, or try to do it without disturbing the crank, sometimes works, sometimes not. Clean and degrease the main seal sealing areas (where RTV does its job) REALLY well.

Before you tear into the motor make absolutely sure where the oil is leaking from, it can leak from the rear main seal, one of or both of the rear oil galley plugs or the cam plug, the rear main seal holder can leak out of the sides alao looking like it is the seal when it isn't One motor in particular the guy had the oil pan off four or five times before someone else saw both valve covers leaking from the rear corners dripping down onto both rear engine ears and then blowing back into the tranny dust sheild
I've seen more than one "main seal" oil leak turn out to be not that
If it is the rear main seal itself leaking the oil will be slung off of the crank shaft flange onto the front of the flex plate or flywheel and then slung outwards leaving a distinct pattern of straight oil lines from the center of the crankshaft flange
Good luck, let us know what you find

I've done the rear main seal on a HEMI in both B and E bodies in car, no different than doing a smallblock or B/RB, drop the center link, if your running a "stock" pan you shouldn't have to undo any motor mounts to raise the engine slightly, an aftermarket pan chances are you'll need to raise the engine off the mounts for removal depending on the sump/pick up design




FYI...it seems the crate HEMI's have a bad rep for rear main seals, don't be surprised if the lip is installed backwards

I've done them in the car twice, not that bad of a job. I don't know if I'm lucky or not but the side seals seem to give more trouble than the actual crank seals. Investigate first before tearing in.

I ran the car and watched from underneath and I can see oil dripping from the crankshaft flange. There is oil slung all over the headers and now it's cooked on there
. The front seal seems to be leaking as well since I have oil leaking onto the k member and running along the oil pan rail. The motor starts to leak once it warms up, enough that there is a steady drip of oil. I'm very disappointed with it since its not one of the mopar performance crates; I ordered the motor straight from Ray Barton and it started leaking with less than an hour of run time.