After I bought my '85 Westy the forward (front is front) oil seal failed
and not only oiled my hatch a lot but any tailgaters, too.  Of course,
the clutch started to slip on hills.  This was at about 162,000 miles.

I dropped the tranny and found that the clutch had been replaced not
long before (now garbage due to oil contamination) as well as the pilot
bearing.  One of the Allen bolts holding the flywheel on was completely
stripped out and there were marks on the outside where someone had
probably tried to use vice grips and gave up.  They kind of buggered up
the area through the flywheel by breaking/cutting the old pilot bearing
out in order to replace it.  I ended up replacing the transmission input
shaft where a frozen pilot bearing had really messed it up.  I easily
removed that stripped out Allen with a Craftsman "Bolt Out", a breaker
bar and a cheater pipe.  Piece of cake.

Oh ... as to the seal? ... that sucker was hard as a rock.  I've seen
rigid plastic with more flexibility.

Obviously that seal wasn't previously changed with the pilot bearing and
clutch in that they didn't get the flywheel off.

While the engine is out ... pulling the clutch and flywheel would
certainly allow you to inspect and repair things if they need it.  Of
course, you are the best judge of the time you have to devote to it
right now.

Mike

Giasson, Pascal (DNR/MRN) wrote:
> I replaced my crankcase breather tower "O" ring seal and my oil dipstick
> "O" ring seal this weekend.  Both were hard and brittle.  My water pump
> big "o" ring seal was also hard but not as brittle as the two oil seals.
> I have no oil leaks (this is the first VW that I have had that does not
> leak oil!!!) and I was just changing them as preventative maintenance
> while the engine was out.  So since these three seals were hard I was
> wondering if the crank and flywheel seals would also be hard.  My '84
> Westy has 136000 miles.  Part of me says leave well enough alone as they
> are not leaking...but for how long???  The other thing I'm thinking is
> where do I stop...one thing usually leads to another...supporting my
> leave well enough alone gut instinct.  Any experience/advice with the
> two main seals?  BTW I'm trying to get the Westy back together for a
> trip this weekend, so I'm not looking for extra work!  Thanks folks!
>
> Pascal
> '84 Westy
>