>Good luck on your project, if you do everything right,
>Boston Bob has a great video to show the replacement procedures as well

http://www.bostig.com/files/bostonbob&bostig-proper_wbxflywheel_install.wmv

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jack R." <jack007@COMCAST.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2008 6:44 AM
Subject: Re: Front and rear seal replacement

> John,
>
> I feel your pain!!!  My 84 Westy, with a manual and 2.1L replacement motor
> had the rear main seal fail last summer following my body restoration.
> The
> cause was determined to be blast material finding its way into the bell
> housing!  See photo link.
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/77623993@N00/1262992204/
> The hole at the top of the motor where you can see the back of the fly
> wheel, is for automatic transmission application, my plug was missing, and
> I
> failed to cover it properly when I had the body sand blasted.  I would
> suggest keeping it plugged to avoid any contamination over the 75,000
> miles
> of driving on the road.  It is amazing how much crud can find its way to
> your seal.  My mechanic would not have believed this if he hadn't seen
> this
> with his own eyes.
>
> This happened just before the Woodward Dream Cruise, but I drove it there
> anyway, and let it leak.
>
> I saw from an earlier post that your van has a manual tranny too.  So, it
> is
> a good plan to change your clutch at the same time, as you will find your
> clutch saturated with oil, and likely find that your pressure plate and
> flywheel have heat marks - so everything should be resurfaced while you
> are
> at it.  Here is a great link to the step by step procedures.
> http://volksweb.relitech.com/clutch.htm
>
> I had my mechanic friend come by on a Saturday, and if it wasn't for be
> getting the wrong size flywheel seal (yes they come in 2 sized 12mm for
> automatic and 10mm for manual) BE SURE TO COUNTERSINK, we would have had
> the
> job done in a snap.  Also, the time to take to clutch, flywheel and
> pressure
> plate to a local clutch resurface place.  One other note: the throw out
> bearing slipped on us, and I crushed it when we reassembled the thing.  We
> knew we had a problem when the fly wheel wouldn't turn by hand after
> reassembly.  After getting the replacement bearing we held it in place
> with
> a dab of Vaseline and it was fine.
>
> We also changed the seal in the tranny - took an extra $6 and 15 minutes.
> Changed the tranny fluid with Red-line MT GL-4.
>
> Put the whole thing back together, and it is as dry as a bone now.
>
> Good luck on your project, if you do everything right,
> Boston Bob has a great video to show the replacement procedures as well.
>
> Keep that whole plugged, even use silicon sealant around the bell housing
> (Like OEM for Syncro's), to keep the dust, dirt, crud out of there, and
> you
> should be set for life!
>
> Jack R.
> 84 Westy Wolfy, with a 2.1L Syncro Motor.
> N. of Detroit.
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> John Rodgers
> Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2008 1:11 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Front and rear seal replacement
>
> Gotta replace the front and rear seals on my 2.1 Wasserleaker. I'm not a
> happy camper - 85,000 since rebuild.
> Anybody got any tips and tricks?
>
> No Vanagon mechanics in this neck of the woods, so I'm gonna have to
> find a mechanic that doesn't mind somebody hanging in the shop and
> kibbitzing a bit while the work is going on. I figure a GOOD mechanic -
> even though not a VW mechanic, can get the job done with my supervision
> (yeah, right!). I take this approach because of some bad mistakes in the
> past.
>
> BTW, it is ironic that Frank Grunthaner just put up a recent post and
> mentioned the frequency of his observation of front and rear seal
> failure in the 2.1L WBX engine. He attributed this to owner/operator
> error, as well as poor maintenance. Oil levels being a culprit. I am
> very judicious in the operation of my van, and I'm meticulous about the
> maintenance and keeping things up. I just think the seals should have
> lasted longer. However, when the engine ws rebuilt, two weeks after I
> got it back, I had to replace that flywheel seal. Obviously the tranny
> has to be pulled to replace that little seal. What a PITA for so small a
> thing.
>
> Thanks,
>
> John Rodgers
>
> 88 G Driver