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Failed new replacement real seal on complaints of oil leaks rear of engine.
Not the seal.

AERA members have reported engine oil leaks at the rear of 1990-94 Ford 4.0L engines. This leak has often been misdiagnosed as a leaky rear main seal. The
cause of this leak may be uneven mating surfaces on the rear main bearing cap.

The repair requires the oil pan to be removed and thoroughly cleaned of all sealer. The rear main bearing cap must also be removed and cleaned. After all parts are completely clean, they must also be wiped down with denatured alcohol to remove any remaining residue.

To correctly install the rear main bearing cap:
1. Apply small amounts of Loctite 515 sealer, or equivalent, to the cap
mating surfaces in the block.

2. Make sure the bearing insert is in place. Install the cap and finger tighten
new mounting bolts Part #F0TZ-6345-A & #E3TZ-6345-E.

3. Align the rear main cap so the rear main seal bore is concentric and
torque the new mounting bolts to 66-77 ft. lbs.



Care must be taken when installing the engine's oil pan. After reattaching the oil pump and windage tray, follow the steps listed below:

1. Fill the cavities between the block and rear main cap for the wedge seal
with Loctite 515. Install the seal wiping any excess sealer from the area.

2. Place a 1/8" bead of Loctite 598 sealer on the four corners of the oil pan
and install the revised (High Crush) oil pan gasket Part #F0TZ-6710-C

3. Place a 1/8" bead of Loctite 598 sealer on both ends of the block joint
areas. Set the oil pan in place over the 4 studs and snug up the nuts.

4. Align the oil pan within .010" (.25 mm) of rear block face and torque the pan bolts to 5-7 ft. lbs.

5. Install the rear main seal service Part #D7RZ-6701-A, using the revised
installation tool T95T-6701-A. The two previous design tools may cause
seal damage during installation.

 

You got me wondering if this is the cause of my rear oil leak, that started a couple years after I went in there to replace the rear seal and oil pan gasket. I didn't use Loctite 515 in all those places; I used red high temp rtv rubber sealant because I saw that there was some kind of reddish hard sealant installed from the factory in those spots. It's a minor leak, but it's annoying.

 

Do most Ford dealers carry the revised installation tool T95T-6701-A? And I thought this fix did not require replacing the main seal? Now I'm totally confused!

 

If you remove the rear main cap to apply the sealant between it and the block, the existing rear main and wedge seals are disturbed, and therefore must be replaced.

 

Simple DIYer weekend job with a rental lift and good tools.
The T95T-6701-A seal tool is a commonly available part in many seal tool kits. Used on 10s of millions of 4.0L OHV and the later SOHC version which they made until recently.
Ford dealers laugh at us driving in an Aero for repair.
Find a top quality private engine service shop that does engine rebuilds and replacements. They deal with sleeve replacement often.

 

It may seem "simple" after you've done it a few times. On my AWD I had to use almost every socket and extension in my Craftsman set; the drivetrain had a huge variety of fasteners of different sizes in both English and metric. Plus I used two floor jacks and a transmission jack. I started from the rear drive shaft:

https://plus.google.com/photos/11555...67774490549511

It was definitely a lot easier on my 2WD van. Not only was there half the drivetrain to remove, the oil pan was much easier to get to/off/on/to. The hardest part on that may have been the bolts nearly frozen in the exhaust manifold.

 

High quality well light pictures xlt. I can't crawl under one anymore, that's why I listed the lift as mandatory. Even refuse to crawl under a Ranger anymore.

Put in air when my arthritis became so bad 15 years ago, got a 1" impact tool. We don't get that much rust here unless beach driving. And I refuse to work on beach rigs

What rod did you weld the front wheel drive brackets with, a nickel based or just mild steel rod to get them to hold so long in the welds?

 

It was a fairly common flux core welding wire I got from Harbor Freight. I ground the edges on the two pieces to form V-grooves on each side. When I welded each side, I just filled in the grooves, so I 'm pretty sure the melt was pretty thorough.

Since then, I've pulled the AWD module and set it aside for when I actually need it. Before, it had started to engage the center clutch when it wasn't supposed to, causing a lot of stress on the system, which probably broke the bracket. Since the system hasn't locked up since, it probably hadn't experienced such stresses since then, so the bracket survives.

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll let you know how it goes. Not planning to tackle the task for a week or so. Any other obstacles (manifolds, cross beams) I can expect to have to deal with when removing the oil pan? Do I use Locktite on the pan bolts?

 

No need to loc-tite the bolts for the oil pan. Just when you attach the oil pan to the block, you need to have the transmission in place already, and you need to put a spacer (.001", I think) between the oil pan and the block when you tighten the bolts that fasten it to the bell housing. If you still have them, reuse the spacers that were on the oil pan. That, and the rear seal are probably the trickiest things to assemble properly.

 

Is this in addition to a Oil Pan gasket such as this?

 

Welcome to FTE.

Looks like the OP has moved on. Are you selling gaskets?

 

No, I'm looking to repair an oil leak on my ranger. I recently had the rear main seal, intake gasket and pan gasket replaced but there is still occasionally oil forming on the bottom rear of the oil pan.

I'm thinking of pulling the transmission and doing the repair op originally discussed, just want to confirm a couple of things before I crack it apart as this would probably be the largest repair I've done on the truck so far. I have an idea of what I'm getting into just want to have a clear picture of what I'd be doing is all.

 

Good luck with your project. We have a '99 Explorer with the 4.0 OHV. Kids have moved away, so it sits for use when they are around or other infrequent use. Doesn't drip a single drop of oil at 130,000.

Thanks for the update.

 

That rear main seal is one of the trickiest installation I've ever done. You can replace it without replacing the oil pan gasket, or removing the rear main bearing. If you do either of those, you will obviously need to replace their respective seals.

Once you remove the transmission, the rear main seal can be pried out, taking care not to mar the sealing surface of the crank shaft. Some times, that surface may have a worn groove, which will require a sleeve. I think Fel[Pro' seal kit comes with a sleeve. But the trick is to install these onto the crank shaft. There is a special tool that Ford has for pressing these onto the crank shaft. It's possible to make your own using wood or PVC plumbing parts. You can use the flywheel bolts (or get longer versions of them) with the tool to press them in, making sure to apply torque evenly among the bolts.

If you want to replace the oil pan gasket, you will first need to make room to drop the pan. There is a wedge seal that goes into a gap on each side of the rear main bearing that take some trick to remove. I ended up removing the rear main bearing to remove the old wedge seals, which required re-sealing the mating surface with the block. That actually required removing the oil pump to access the bolts, which are torque-to-yield, and should be replaced after no more than a second torquing. This also made it easier to remove the old rear seal. Of course, use lots of sealant around those wedge seals when you're installing them. Also use lots of sealant around the gasket itself, and the rear seal.

Another trick comes when you're ready to install the oil pan. Install the transmission first. If you have the A4LD, note that the torque converter slides onto the input shafts with 4 distinct engagement steps. When it's fully on by itself, it would just scrape the bell housing, but should clear everything once it's bolted to the flex plate. You should be able to draw the transmission to the engine, line up the torque converter to the flex plate, by finger force only, assuming it's sitting on a rolling jack. Do not use the bolts to draw it to the engine; that will cause major damage, and indicates something is not aligned properly.

Then install the oil pan as I wrote above. Apply the sealant to the mating surface, then install all the bolts finger tight, make sure the shims between the pan and transmission have been installed. Start tightening the bolts to the the block, then the bolts to the transmission. Then loosen the block bolts a little, then re-tighten, then loosen the transmission a little, then re-tighten. The idea is that you want to draw the pan to the transmission and block at the same time.