Crank seal replacement

One more thing that I learned the hard way.if you get a crankshaft seal from advance Auto,Napa or some other parts store it will seem to fit correctly.however the outside diameter of the seal is a little too small and oil will leak between the outer edge and the housing. Three crank bolts and the correct seal from frank06 and I was good to go!

Which model of the Dewalt HD impact did you get? They have several now.

FYI - just doing a TB on my Buddy's TDI - he ordered a crank seal from Rock Auto and it came the wrong size. So I search the TDI forum and sure enough...we're not alone. Hallowhead's comments above are exactly what we found as well.



After searching the Google for details, I discovered this - the National and other seals that list the size in inches call for a 1.86" O.D. The places the list the Metric size call for a 48mm O.D. If you convert 48mm to inches you get 1.89". I measured the old OEM seal from the Beetle (I only have SAE calipers, forgive me) and it measured 1.89". The new seal from Rock Auto was 1.86", just like the call outs on all the websites. Those SAE seals are all 0.030" undersized. So my buddy reaches out to Rock Auto and says "Your part listed was wrong." Their response was "There are two sizes listed. You are responsible to determine which one is for your car." This is patently wrong. There are not two sizes of crank seal housings on our TDI's (this one in particular is a 2000). How the heck do we get Rock Auto, O'reilly's, Autozone, Advance Auto, et al to stop listing the erroneous seal?!



The only thing I can think of is for all of us to go to Rock Auto and order the 'wrong' seal then ping them hard all at once saying "It's the wrong friggin seal!!!!" <shrug> Any other suggestions? Hate to see someone get the seal on and then realize they have to spend *another* Saturday fixing someone elses screwup. Hate it when that happens...

Following up on this old thread, I'm putting together a parts list to do my crank seal this weekend on my 98 Jetta. I've noticed that IDParts sells a crank seal flange gasket with a part number of 026103161B. I assume this is used instead of the special VW sealant, so has anyone tried it?

twmac said:

Following up on this old thread, I'm putting together a parts list to do my crank seal this weekend on my 98 Jetta. I've noticed that IDParts sells a crank seal flange gasket with a part number of 026103161B. I assume this is used instead of the special VW sealant, so has anyone tried it?

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Your '98 Jetta is a different engine than the topic of this thread, however the rear main seal and carrier is similar. The AHU engine uses the same as the later IDI diesels: 068-103-171-F which is the flange and seal together, with the rubber "gasket" already made on to it that seals it against the block, the installation sleeve sometimes comes with it. If it does not, you'll need one. It is a single lip seal, and you NEED the tool to properly install it. There is no gasket or sealant required. You'll also need the oil pan gasket as that has to come off too. No sealant at all on the AHU.

Oops, with all of my searching and pre-reading I've jumped sections by accident. It's the front seal though in this topic which is what I'm replacing (just on an A3 not the A4 here). I'll head back over to the A3 section.