Front seal change, how much?
- Thread starter NastyNate
- Start date
I'm not sure, but if you want to do it yourself, I have a seal installer I could loan you for the cost of shipping there and back.
edit: I believe he's talking about the front main seal. The one that goes into the front cover and seals it to the crank. It's behind the harmonic balancer.
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yup, thats it. Sorry guys, Im watching some show on The Learning Channel about a 650lb virgin. What is wrong with me?
Has been leaking from day one of the built engine. I took it back to installer, because I couldn't locate the leak. Was told it was the front main seal, which is the builders fault. Got it back and it still leaks. Is it possible that the cover could be damaged and seal is not able to seal up. Was asking about the cost because I am trying to figure out my bill. Little surprised.
either that or he never even replaced the seal...just put it back together with the old seal.
It CAN be done (even tho its a two piece seal and theoretically is destroyed every time you take the cover off) but ive heard of some people reusing it...whether it will work or not...its a crapshoot.
I always replace them. Its like 40 bucks and takes 5 minutes once you have the stuff out of the way and balancer off.
A shop will charge you 4 to 5 hours at $65 to $100 an hour depending on their labor rate and how hungry they are, so maybe a little less. Are you sure its the seal there is a lot of stuff that can leak oil in that area? At this point its still the builders responsibility to seal what ever leak you have, or pay for someone else to fix it, or reimburse you some coin. Good luck.
I've never understood this... I was alway's under the impression diesel techs get payed by the job, and not the hour... So why do they still charge labor everywhere?
That is the "shop's rate". That covers the building, heating/AC, electricity, etc. etc. Basically all the "overhead". The tech only sees a SMALL portion of that.
Smaller shops (with smaller overhead) can sometimes charge less, but usually they have less tools at their disposal (such as a Duramax front seal installer tool).
If you don't want to have to worry about it leaking use the tool, im sure when the time comes you could borrow one from anyone including myself.
Well I'm tearing the motor down on my spare time now, so the time has come haha. I have borrowed tools before from guys on this site and I appreciate those guys . But if anyone else thinks the same result can be had with a little finesse work with a hammer I can try that.
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I put both front and rear seals in with a hammer and punch. I know it's not the right way but i was careful and lucky. Probably mostly lucky 
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You can use a hammer and/or screwdriver to get the old seal out once you have the front cover off, but I wouldn't chance it putting it back in. Especially when there are members here, including myself, who will lend you a tool to install it.