Re: Riki's '56 Packard Roars to life in San Diego!

Posted by Larry51 On 2014/11/11 8:08:23

When I replaced seal with the Kanter rope one it was hellish tight initially, I could hardly turn the engine with a 3foot bar and socket. Had me worried that it would burn the crank. A mechanic who has done hundreds of these over many years said that's how it should be, and it would loosen up and be OK.

If major oil leakage is the main problem you might have a choice to eliminate the oil puddle until you replace the seal. In days past some would do a 'temporary fix' by blocking the drain hole in the flywheel housing and inserting a tube connected to the inlet manifold, which sucked the oil out that gathered there and burnt it. I'm not recommending you do that, just mentioning it was a way to get by for a while.