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Engine seals

I

iHateVolvoPeople

Active member
Joined
Feb 1, 2014
Location
Midwest
I'd like to get an idea of the general quality and longevity of different brands of various engine seals/gaskets for redblock cars. I've installed an elring cam seal and had it immediately leak. That's not to say elring makes a bad seal, perhaps the one for our cars is just not the correct size. I picked up about 5 Beck and Arnley camshaft seals for $2 a piece and was wondering if any of you have run these and with what results. Obviously a Volvo OEM seal will always work but they are quite expensive.

Aside from cam/aux/front and rear main seals, there's intake manifold, throttle body, valve cover, oil pan, and head gaskets. I've never had to replace any of these but did a little bit of research on them. A valve cover is simple enough that any should suffice with some RTV, same with the oil pan gasket. However, I think I read that the Felpro head gaskets are awful. They are 'guaranteed' to fail. Have any of you had this issue? Also, the elring head gasket is supposed to be of great quality.

This thread isn't really a question but I'd like to know some of your experiences with the different brands of seals and gaskets. Thanks.
 
I just had a Felpro crank seal pop out after just installing. Replacing it with a grey Volvo seal- no more cheap seals for me.
 
MikeSr. said:
I just had a Felpro crank seal pop out after just installing. Replacing it with a grey Volvo seal- no more cheap seals for me.
Click to expand...

This. I have NEVER been disappointed with the quality or longevity of Volvo seals and gaskets. Is it worth the $20 savings to use crap quality seals? I won't pull a transmission or remove a timing belt and gears for $20. Would you?

Elring at its finest:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/AIP6v2IVt0E?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Certain seals should definitely be volvo. A rear main seal would be one of those seals. The reason I ask is because my girlfriend got me a timing belt kit for Christmas. It came with 2 elring cam seals (these will not be used, I'll try my beck and arnley) and a victor reinz crank seal. I'll give the crank seal a try. Also, it came with the continental contitech belt which is supposed to be good as well.
 
Conti belts are OK. Throw the Beck Arney stuff in the trash.
Victor Reinz is better than Elring and Beck Arney, but it's not as good as Volvo stuff.
 
Wren said:
Conti belts are OK. Throw the Beck Arney stuff in the trash.
Victor Reinz is better than Elring and Beck Arney, but it's not as good as Volvo stuff.
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Well sh<z>it I bought 5 cam seals:e-shrug: I'm going to give them a shot anyways and hope for the best. It's a shame no one can make a decent seal besides the original manufacturer
 
Most of them could come from any 5 different suppliers, and be in a Beck box.

Looked at another way, few if any seals or bearings on a car are application specific. You look at any bearing part number, its ID,OD, thickness, roller style, cage type, and seal arrangement.
If I go to the industrial bearing store, I can get a better bearing or seal for less than half of what the local auto parts store charges for a middle of the road one.
 
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I have had such a bad time with seal leaking, all Elring. Been so flustered with leaking seals, I broke down and spent $22.00 per seal for Volvo seals and yellow 3m. That yellow do do will make the next seal job a bitch but no leaks.
 
I use elring on a regular base with no issues just don't use there redesigned Grey seals.I have had several issues with them but the original orange elring work perfectly and have never had a problem with
 
wreckliss said:
I use elring on a regular base with no issues just don't use there redesigned Grey seals.I have had several issues with them but the original orange elring work perfectly and have never had a problem with
Click to expand...

That's weird, the one I had leak was red/orange. It was the same as the one in the video above. I thought I did an elring crank seal (it was gray, might have been victor reinz) and it doesn't leak.
 
If it is really easy to slide the new seal in/out with hand pressure, it will leak. The OE Volvo seals require the OE tool, or some PVC pipe of the right diameter, or several taps around the outside with a little rubber/plastic mallet, to install.

Beck Arnley is a reliable aftermarket manufacturer, aside from brake parts (crapshoot from most manufacturers, really..). They usually slap their stickers on Aisin, Elring, Timken, SKF, Koyo, Mitsuboshi, Continental, INA, Bosch, etc etc parts. Better than the cheapie aftermarket players..
 
You all are making me a wee bit nervous with my recent re-sealing. I went with an elring/Volvo mix, will report back to this thread or the most recent if/when any of them are puked out.
 
Elring cam seal made in Europe fits in front cover for intermediate shaft good. Elrig cam seal made in China fits loose in the head. I had one of each. Installed the Euro made seal for the intermediate shaft, it's still doing fine. Installed the China made seal in the head and it kept pushing out, I put the old Volvo seal back in.
 
One of my engine builds I used the red 'Goetze' (IIRC) seals that came with my FCP gasket kit. I installed them properly, other than the rear main, which I promptly screwed up on and had to buy a pricey brown Volvo parts counter seal to replace it. Well, after the motor was running, the front end of the engine got a nice light oil coating. Pretty much all the oil seals on the front were leaking. Not much, just a little. I ended up replacing all of them with the $$ brown Volvo parts counter seals, installed the same way, no more leaks at all.

I was just lucky I'd screwed up the cheap crappy rear main seal and used a good one, otherwise I'd have been pulling the trans to replace a new seal, which would not be pleasant.

CN: As said above, use the Volvo seals.
 
I stick to the original Volvo seals, they are good. Don't have the time to do things like that twice. Had a few of the red Elring seals leak a bit shortly after installing. Not a lot and only after 10-20K of driving but still..
 
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