Hey everyone, im a proud owner of a c4 vette. I just bought the vette last weekend and when I bought it I had the transmission rebuilt the next day.

The guy before me put in a new 383 stroker motor but he said the transmission needed to be upgraded. I took it to a local shop and they did a stage 2 transmission upgrade for me but when I got it back to my house I noticed it was leaking a little oil so I had my friend take a look at in his shop and he said its the rear main seal.

It was NOT leaking before the transmission rebuild, so my question is could removing the transmission in any way damage the rear main seal??

Thanks for any help,
-Carl

Carl I use to do a lot of heavy work on cars and to be honest yes it is possible but it is not easy to dammage the rear main while pulling the tranny. The only way I can see it as possible is if someone were to ram a tool or the tranny into the rear main. It is however not all that hard to replace. Put the car up on a lift and drop the oil pan. You might need to unbolt 1 engine mount but it is not that bad. I would sugest that if you are dropping the oil pan go ahead and replace the oil pump while your at it. It may not be bad but it cant hurt to while you have the lower end appart.

I had the rear main seal leaking in my 76 when I got it. I was looking at Wal-Mart and found an oil additive I can’t remember the name but it clamed to stop rear main seal leaks. I got it and it did work. Take a look next time you go to Wally world.

What year is your car? Only 84 to 86 1/2 have 2 piece, internal rear main seals. Newer cars have a one piece, external seal that requires trans removal to replace.

I have rebiuld a lot of motors and pulled a lot of trannys. I dont see how pulling and reinstalling the tranny could damage the rear seal unless the guy stuck a screwdriver into the seal or something like that. The flywheel blocks most of it from any damage.

If im correct that should be a 1 peice rear main, need to pull flywheel, i usually do rear main when doing tranny or clutch, put grease in the spring area of the seal, that holds in the spring during installation, if's it's a 1 peice seal.
Many times the seal is leaking at the casing not the rubber part, so dry all area's and add silicone very lightly. Off the top of my head i cant swear that it's a 1 peice, it maye be a 2 peice in which case calls for a different approach.
Dont forget to threadlock flywheel bolts and use torque wrench. :sm_party:

It would be impossible to damage the engine's rear main seal by pulling the transmission out. Because the seal is in front of the flywheel AND it has the flange on the rear of the crankshaft just behind it. Are you absolutely positive it's the rear main seal leaking? Because a leaking intake manifold, oil pressure sender, or valve cover(s) can also allow oil to collect down where the rear main seal is.

It may have just never been noticed till now

Next step is;
Run 'dye' in the oil and investigate with 'UV lamp' before any further repairs.:thumbsup3: