Ok, here's the story with my recently rebuilt 22R....
I've been having issues with a possible rear main seal leak. The thing is, oil will only leak once I shut the engine down (usually just 3 drips). It comes down the front of that plate between the bellhousing and block. When I was rebuilding the engine, I had to get the crank replaced (crack in #2 journal), so the machine shop got me a used replacement in good condition. The was no big groove in the flange that the seal rides on,rather just a mark (could barely even feel it with your fingernail). The machine shop said it was pretty negligible that it would cause any leaks, so I went and put a new seal on and carried on with the rebuild.

I've pulled the tranny once since then, and had seen that there had been oil leakin from the rear half moon seal in the head. The bellhousing looked clean, and there was no oil on the clutch or flywheel area, so I decided not to pull the clutch and flywheel and do the seal again.

Anyway, finally got her back together today and took her out for a spin, and it's still doing the same thing, minus the leak from the half moon seal (which I fixed).

I've spent a lot of time and money on this darn engine (see pic), it's only got 700 KM on it. I'm starting to get frustrated here Any input is appreciated!

Oh no...its because you painted it silver! Never paint a oriental engine Silver or it will leak 3-4 drops of engine oil upon shutdown. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Kidding aside... couple of drips coming down the plate on the back of the engine....Front side of the plate or backside? Does make a difference. If coming down the backside, I would say rear main seal is definately the culprit...no two ways about it even if canadian.

If the front of the plate is carrying the drip- I would lay money on not the rear main seal but the rear main seal carrier. Ya know that bracket that bolts to the block with 5 M8x1.25 bolts, reqiures a gasket between it and the block along with two relatively good sized smears of sealer. The thing that holds your rear main seal! Could be leaking from there. Shutting down the engine takes away the oil pressure....oil remaining in the galleries succombs to gravity travels towards the pan. All the oil thats been splashed around in the crankcase will run down the walls...and potentially out the seam where the prior mentioned part mates with the block.

Sounds strange...I know...but then when is the last time a guy who isnt playing with a full deck gave you advice? Keep in mind that Ive also torn down and reassembled more than a handful of these engines...with 2 currently on stands waiting to be splapped back together.

Just a thought...worse part is, either engine gets pulled or trans has to be dropped to check/fix. Might get lucky if you can drop the oil pan and are able to swab some sealer on the crankcase side...but wouldnt recommend this approach.

Time for vittles....tummy monster is hungry!

~Darin <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/baby.gif" alt="" />

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Thanks for the input guys!
Darin, I know what you mean about the rear seal retainer.. I'm starting to wonder if it is coming from there.

It doesn't leak a lot either...it just runs down the front of the plate and there's usually about 3 drips or so after it shuts down.

It just sucks that after spending all that time rebuilding the thing (esp. painting it silver...haha), and I get left with pesky oil leaks right after.

I'm gonna find it hard to get motivated to drop the tranny AGAIN. Once I do, I'll probably end up going all out... do the rear main retainer gasket, rear seal, sleeve the crank, and maybe do the tranny input seal while I'm at it.

But for now I might say screw it and go do a bit of wheelin anyway.... gotta see how that 261C cam does off road now that the engine break-in is completely done.

Thanks for this bit of info. Looks like I'll be pulling the trans again. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Before I put my new trans in I pulled the flywheel to fix what I thought was a leaking main seal. Of course the seal wasn't leaking. It didn't appear that the carrier was leaking either, but I don't think I really looked at. It was leaking a little from the rear of the valve cover and I figured that was it.

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I was having a similar problem for a while.
how many miles on your transmission? I thought I had a leaking rear main, but it turned out to be a crusty dry input shaft seal in the transmission.

Tranny input seal is good... I had a look at it when I pulled the tranny last time. It's quite obvious it's engine oil... plus it doesn't smell like gear oil either.

Anyway, looks like I got my work cut out for me this week <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" />

mine didn't smell like gear oil either, but that's probably because I was running Red Line MT-90 at the time. looked just like motor oil. fyi, MT-90 doesn't stay red

did you pull the input shaft cover to look at the input shaft seal? in installs on the back side of this cover plate, so you know you can't judge its condition otherwise, right?

anyway, like the guys were saying, look into maybe the pan gasket.

can't remember what you said about the rear main cover gasket -- did you say you replaced this as well or just the rear main seal?

I'm using MT-90 right now too (good stuff, eh), but I'm 99% sure it's not the input shaft seal that's leaking. When I had the tranny off last time, the bellhousing was bone dry. And now when it leaks, I can see that the oil comes down the center of the front of the plate. I can look between the plate and the oil pan and see that the oil is coming from a bit further up, so it's probably the seal or the seal housing gasket. I replaced both when I rebuilt the engine, but did not sleeve the crank (groove seemed to be pretty negligible.. but hey, it might be the problem). Thanks for all the help so far! I'll be sure to let you guys know what the problem was.

Now it's time to go pull me a tranny....again....

BTW, maybe I should do the inut shaft seal while I have the tranny off again. Is it much of a job to do??