# Crank oil seal leak



## ChrisClothier (Apr 18, 2018)

I have an Audi with the 7A engine. 

Backstory: always wanted a 20v engine to play with. found one less than a mile from my house. car was sitting for a number of years. got it running.

decided to start doing maintenance on the car. bought seals, belts, fluids, etc. since i was doing the timing belt and the pulleys were off i dumbly decided to yank out the front crank seal and put a new one in ( it wasn't leaking, but i thought its been sitting and it could be replaced..very dumb of me i know). but i may have scored or scratched the crank or seal housing when taking the original seal out. put a new one in and put the entire car back together thinking i was good. things went too smooth. drove it up the street, pulled over to peak under the hood and oil was dripping pretty good. did some research, thought i didn't seat the seal far enough in. ordered a new seal and found the installation tool for the seal. put the new seal in and it definitely was farther in this time. all looked good. got it all back together again and ran the car. yet again, leaking oil. 

now my question is, if i scored any surfaces can i use rtv on the outside of the seal? also the Bentley says to bottom out seal if shaft is scored. should i try that?

again, im very dumb for pulling the old seal out like a savage in the first place. just trying to fix my blunder. :banghead:


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## stratclub (Feb 3, 2007)

Most newer cars have PTFE (Teflon) seals and require a very specialized technique to install. If your new seal did not have a spring in it , it is most likely a PTFE seal. If you put scratches on the crank, oiled the crank sealing surface, or did not wait 4 hours for the new PTFE to conform a PTFE seal will leak. If you damaged the housing the seal fits into a sealant might be fine.
http://pmmonline.co.uk/technical/how-you-install-ptfe-oil-seals/


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## Butcher (Jan 31, 2001)

I doubt if you have the newer seal in your engine. The engine is just too old. 

You could look for a crankshaft seal repair sleeve that will fit your engine. Good luck.

https://www.knowyourparts.com/techn...leeve-installation-new-life-worn-crankshafts/


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