Replacement of rear oil seal on Alfetta GTV without engine remova l

[David Rubie <drubie@domain.elided>]

Over a month ago, I posted a query as to whether it was possible to
change the rear oil seal on a 4 cylinder Alfetta GTV without pulling the
engine, as I had done something rather stupid (fitted a blocked canister
to the cam cover vreather) and had subsequently caused a fairly
serious oil leak.  The biggest impediment to getting at the oil
seal is the rear engine mount, a big alloy casting that resembles the
bell housing of a gear box.

AlfaNeely@domain.elided kindly responded to say that it was possible,
if you jacked the front of the engine up so that the rear of the
engine was pointing down, thus giving enough clearance for
the rear engine mount to clear the drive train tunnel (what the
hell do you call the tunnel on an Alfetta?).

Thus heartened, I donned my overalls and pulled the exhaust system
and driveshaft.

Unfortunately, no matter how the engine was jacked, the engine mount
didn't clear the entrance to the tunnel, due to a huge lip of steel
where the panels are joined (fhose of you with the Haynes workshop
manual will now that it says in theory the mount can be removed, while
in practice the engine must be removed in order to clear the metal
lip).

Anyhow, the damn thing wouldn't come out, so I went on holiday for a week,
and when I got back I hired a hydraulic engine hoist, pulled the engine
mounts, dragged the engine forward around and inch and a half and
the rear engine mount popped out with some struggling.  I didn't bother
removing the radiator or unhooking anything other than the carburettors for
access to the starter motor etc.  There is actually quite a big of shoving,
pulling, swearing and general violence involved with this approach, so
if you really need a pristine, unscratched engine mount, don't bother
trying.

Access to the flywheel is actually pretty good (i.e. good enough to get
a torque wrench in there to put it back on correctly) after the
mount is out of the way.

The rear oil seal was in perfect condition when I finally
got to look at it, I had 4 loose bolts on the back of my sump.  sigh.

No more leaks, anyway.
Putting it back together is almost as easy, I used a trolley jack to shove the mount
up behind the engine after I had manually cleared the three long bolts that hook
up to the driveshaft.

Summary:  On an Alfetta, You can get the rear oil seal out without pulling the engine, sort of.

dave.

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