greetings all, i am looking for some comments on 460 motors and leaky rear seals. mine has been weeping for a while (past 100k miles - van has 250k total). kinda drips like my 74 harley... i am now tired of the stained driveway. i have both headers and all the exhaust out (cracked muffler and i decided to wrap the headers) & the upper intake maifold (been using a 60mm BBK t-body but finally decided to open up the manifold to match - also installed h2o injection jets in the BBK) it seems like i am halfway to dropping the pan and fixing the leak...

questions are:
are 460 motors know to have rear main issues?

last time i looked in a catalogue, there seemed to be at least 4 or 5 different options for the replacement seal. any mechanics out there who have done a enough of these motors to have a reliable opinion on the best version?

lastly, any sealant preferred for rear main cap? ford specifies something that dries in 15min. dunno what is is but could go source some at the dealer.

i have turned wrenches for ~35 years. i still don't like using silicone around oil - rebuilt more than one motor after a customer's rebuild went south and found silicone in the oil screen/galleries/etc.

thanx in advance for your comments
neil
also posting this in the 460 engine forum, figured if i posted here, another van owner might have some comments not heard from the engine guys...

 

Try one of those stop leak additives. My sons Ranger had a power steering leak and he used a stop leak additive and it worked!
With your miles I'd give it a shot........
John

 

..... "Lucas" was the brand.....

John

 

Lucas oil is great if you have low oil presh but if your presure is fine then the lucas might increase it to the point that the leak becomes worse or it may even open up other leaks that you did not have before. In my experence most of the ford vans i have owened have leaked some oil but if it is the rear main I would keep an eye on it and if it gets worse or you start to lose oil presure then i would replace the seal. Good luck droping the oil pan if you have not removed the motor I know on the 302's the book says you can remove the pan but jacking the motor up 2 -3 inches but this does not work i had it jacked up almost 10 inches with the intake and heads removed and would not clear the cross beam so i had to remove the motor . good luck

 

yeah, i think the trick is to drop the oil pump into the pan then slide the pan out. i guess i will find out...

neil

 

I am replying with experience.....

Oil pan on my 92 with a 5.8 liter was a nightmare......

Jacked up engine with intake on, Disconnected y pipe, took off motor mounts from block, got oil pan loose and dropped pump into pan..... pan would NOT come out.

Ended up removing front crank bearing cap with a box end wrench, pan came out.

Re -assembly was another story with dropped bolts/ contorted wrenching/crank bearing cap re-install/ un-install to get pump back on/ pump drive shaft kept falling out etc. etc........

2 entire days of labor/ cussing/ swearing/ ..... crying!!!!!!!

On top of all this, I believe your rear seal is actually accessed from the tranny side??????? The only thing I know of via the pan is the gasket....

John (try the Stop-leak!)