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440 Chrysler rear seal leak

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chipahoy72

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A friend of mine bought a 1965 Pacemaker with twin 440 engines, the port engine in the boat had been recently rebuilt by the owner and his son. Shortly after the purchase a massive oil leak was discovered in the flywheel housing, I believe it is the new rear seal. I have read a lot of info on rear seal problems with these engines, any additional info or opinions would be greatly appreciated since I will be involved in this repair.

Thanks for your help
 
This might be quite unrelated, but I was able to determine the cause of a friends "rebuilt" 440 with a profuse flywheel area oil leak. His engine's direction had been reversed by the re-builder, and in doing so, did not take into account the directional knurls on the crankshaft, which were designed to move oil inward. Long story short, we pulled the crankshaft, and had the knurls polished smooth. He has been running it for the last six years with no oil leak issues.........so far! :cool:
 
Using the wrong seal for RH or LH rotation (they are different) will also cause a leak. Having said that, there are seals made recently that are designed to handle both rotations. Before tearing things apart, is the oil level correct? Has the dipstick been changed? Has there ever been too much oil in the rebuilt engine, either by mistake or mixed with water or fuel due to another problem?
 
I really don't know anything about the engine other than it leaks a lot of oil from the flywheel, we haven't removed the engine yet, the only thing I do know is the engine has been rebuilt, the quality of the rebuild is unknown, I don't think a machine shop was involved. After the purchase of the boat, on the trip back to our port is when we discovered the leak, since the seller had said nothing of a problem, if not for a low oil pressure alarm we may have blown the engine. I don't know what we will find but I plan to use a rope type seal, the research I've done says they are reliable and very forgiving in old applications. This is a 1965 boat, I think they created the 440 in 1966, I'm not 100% sure what they are, I'm working on running down the block numbers to be sure.


Thanks for your help
 
There's a "freeze plug" back there blocking the hole where the camshaft if. If it fell out you'd have a nasty an oil leak.

The good news if--I'm right--is that it can be replaced (epoxied in) by merely removing some parts (trans and flywheel). A lot of work, but far easier than ripping the motor out and tearing it down.


Jeff
 
Thanks Jeff,

On this boat its difficult to access the rear of the engine, we plan to break the engine at the bell housing, slide it forward, lift and rotate it 90 degrees. Then we can pull the flywheel and check everything before pulling the pan. I hope your right, it would still be far easier than dropping the oil pan and replacing the seal.
 
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I think Jeff might be on to something with the camshaft plug, that would account for the oil pressure drop.

Are the engines midship, below the saloon?
 
@Bob,

Yes, the engines are below the saloon, the transmissions extend beyond the hatches and are under the deck, great design, easier to pull the engine than pull the tranny.

Thanks Chip
 
Look at the rebuild records and I'll bet you find that they replaced the crank not knowing the the reverse model is different. The seal doesn't matter, it's the grooves.

Dan
 
I thought that I had a rear seal leak and it turned out to be a hydrolic steering oil leak. There was a connection in the hydrolic line above the engine that was leaking on the side of the flywheeel housing. It only leaked when the steering was used so I did not see it. Wouldn't that be nice if that is the problem.
 
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