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M47 flywheel bolt fell out

There is a gasket that goes between the seal housing and the block. The rear main seal is just like the front crank seal, only, much larger in diameter. It presses into the housing just like all 3 front shaft seals. If you had a bolt come out of the seal housing, there are likely more of those bolts that are loose. It would definitely cause a substantial oil leak.
 
Now that I think about it, the oil leaks started after my switch to synthetic. Nothing up from but the oil pan gasket and possibly rear main/rear main housing are leaking. Pulling the oil pan and replacing it was the hardest thing I've done on a car. Is it safe to say that it would be easier to remove my m47 and do a rear main than to pull the oil pan?
 
93Volvo240 said:
Now that I think about it, the oil leaks started after my switch to synthetic. Nothing up from but the oil pan gasket and possibly rear main/rear main housing are leaking. Pulling the oil pan and replacing it was the hardest thing I've done on a car. Is it safe to say that it would be easier to remove my m47 and do a rear main than to pull the oil pan?
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If one of the rear main seal housing bolts fell out like 2manyturbos thinks, then you may want to pull that M47, the clutch, and flywheel to replace the seal and missing bolt. It depends on what you find when you get in there but you may also want to pull the seal housing.

I have pulled the rear main seal housing without dropping the oil pan. I loosened the pan bolts from mid-block rearwards, removed those that thread into the seal housing, carefully worked a putty knife between the pan gasket and the bottom of the seal housing to separate them, then removed the seal housing. After I reinstalled the housing, I smeared RTV on the putty knife and worked it in between the gasket and seal housing. That worked fine for me.
 
Sorry for the duplicate posts. But that sounds fun. I re-tightened some oil pan bolts last night so I'll see if it continues to leak. There was NO oil on the back of the flywheel so maybe it's not leaking. If anything I wouldn't necessarily have to pull the oil pan completely, I think I could raise the motor a few inches and drop the pan only a few inches as well. They make a 2 or 3 piece oil pan gasket so you don't have to pull the pan IIRC. How hard would one say it is to pull an m47 and do a rear main?
 
you lost one of these.
1Bjv2CXl.jpg


(Nevermind the seal that got tapped one too many times and was replaced shortly after this photo was taken)
 
93Volvo240 said:
Sorry for the duplicate posts. But that sounds fun. I re-tightened some oil pan bolts last night so I'll see if it continues to leak. There was NO oil on the back of the flywheel so maybe it's not leaking. If anything I wouldn't necessarily have to pull the oil pan completely, I think I could raise the motor a few inches and drop the pan only a few inches as well. They make a 2 or 3 piece oil pan gasket so you don't have to pull the pan IIRC. How hard would one say it is to pull an m47 and do a rear main?
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You DO NOT have to do anything with the pan to remove the seal housing, other than removing the pan bolts that actually thread in to the seal housing. It may be a good idea like Steve said to loosen the bolts from mid pan back to the tail end of the pan so the seal housing exerts less pressure on the pan gasket when you pry it off the dowels.
 
mtd240 said:
What would you consider to be the "hardest job" you have done on your 240, or any car for that matter?
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This is the first car I've ever worked on.. I've done a timing belt, tensioner, all front seals, oil delivery tube seals (that means I pulled the oil pan....), motor mounts, a relatively successful turbo conversion, all pads and rotors..never had the head off though.
 
Chewy said:
you lost one of these.
1Bjv2CXl.jpg


(Nevermind the seal that got tapped one too many times and was replaced shortly after this photo was taken)
Click to expand...

So the circular shiny thing would be the end of my crankshaft I assume? The thing that has only 1 bolt in it. What gets bolted to the crankshaft, the flywheel right? That means I wouldn't have lost any bolts that go into the crank shaft (through the flywheel) but I probably lost a bolt that holds the housing into the block.
 
93Volvo240 said:
This is the first car I've ever worked on.. I've done a timing belt, tensioner, all front seals, oil delivery tube seals (that means I pulled the oil pan....), motor mounts, a relatively successful turbo conversion, all pads and rotors..never had the head off though.
Click to expand...

You haven't had the pleasure of doing the heater blower motor and heater core yet. That job will put a kink in your love affair with 240s. If you ever have to do either, do both at the same time. You don't ever want to have to go back into the same car twice because you were cheap, or didn't think to do both.
 
I'll probably deal without heat or air at that point. Anyone know what a shop would charge to do a blower motor and heater core? Just out of curiosity.
 
93Volvo240 said:
So the circular shiny thing would be the end of my crankshaft I assume? The thing that has only 1 bolt in it. What gets bolted to the crankshaft, the flywheel right? That means I wouldn't have lost any bolts that go into the crank shaft (through the flywheel) but I probably lost a bolt that holds the housing into the block.
Click to expand...

To quote your technical term "Circular shiny thing with 1 bolt in it" IS your crankshaft. Those bolts are 1 time use, grade 12.9. Buy some.

You likely lost the small bolts that hold the rear main seal in. (The other smaller bolts in the photo)

You will need to remove trans, then clutch, then flywheel, (lock crankshaft - remember where your flywheel was indexed), and then remove rear main housing, buy new gasket and another 8 dollar rear main seal
 
93Volvo240 said:
I'll probably deal without heat or air at that point. Anyone know what a shop would charge to do a blower motor and heater core? Just out of curiosity.
Click to expand...

Blower motor, about $800-$1,200 is a typical shop quote. $200+ in parts. It is about a 6-8 hour job if you do it yourself. The guys that have done it about 20+ times can do the job in about 3 hours.
 
Well I'm not doing anything yet, it could have been just an alignment dowell pin like redwood said. I'll have look a little more closely. So the rear main seal housing has to be removed to replace the rear main seal? Isn't there there a similar housing on the front of the engine? I never removed that one while doing a front main seal.
 
93Volvo240 said:
Well I'm not doing anything yet, it could have been just an alignment dowell pin like redwood said. I'll have look a little more closely. So the rear main seal housing has to be removed to replace the rear main seal? Isn't there there a similar housing on the front of the engine? I never removed that one while doing a front main seal.
Click to expand...

No - it doesnt have to be removed, BUT I'd spend the 4 bucks on a new rear housing gasket, and the 8 bucks for a rear mainseal, and never worry about them ever again.

"while you're in there...."
 
Okay so it's just a good idea while you're in there. In the mean time I tightened the oil pan (again) and cleaned up underneath so I'll check for leaks in a few days. Thank you all for you help/advice.
 
2manyturbos said:
No, you do not have to remove the seal housing to replace the RMS. It presses in just like the front shaft seals.
Click to expand...

Just as an aside, I've found that timing gears are the perfect diameter to use as a driver for a RMS. Get the seal started, put the gear on it, gently tap in the center of the gear with a deadblow hammer, the seal goes right in.
 
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