oil seals

fiater · Post by **fiater** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 7:33 am

Over the years, I've had varying luck with oil seals. Some that I've done and some that were done for me. I usually use multi-purpose grease on them, but I've read to use a moly based grease. Does it matter? I had one mechanic that also packed the back of the seal (where the spring is) with grease, but one of his seals failed in about 30,000mi. thanks

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 10:24 am

packing the back won't help the seal last, the most important thing is to make sure the sealing surface has some type of lube when installed. Otherwise the seal can be damaged during the initial stages of use in a dry start. A smooth sealing surface is critical also

fiater · Post by **fiater** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 7:49 am

Thanks, Mark, My concern was; if one lube was better than another, or if one shouldn't be used, such as synthetic grease. I'll stick with a multi-purpose grease.

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 11:47 am

IMHO, anything that lubes the lip of the seal initially is okay. The most common thing would be to use the same product the seal is used against; i.e. engine oil on an engine seal, gear oil on a diff seal, etc

fiater · Post by **fiater** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:19 am

Mark, that's what I used to do but then grease was recomended by manuals and others. I've even read to use oil or grease. Once again You've answered my questions. It's funny, sometimes it all comes back to the way you did it 30 yrs. ago. I've seen that alot in construction. thanks

spider2081 · Post by **spider2081** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 10:53 pm

I thought that putting grease into the back of the seal was suppose to help hold the spring in place when the seal was worked over the shaft. The grease was packed into the space around the spring