The Joy of Rear Main Seals

[tj johnny]

Pardon if I'm duplicating, but a weird situation: I pulled the pan on the '98 4.0 for the rear main. Aside from the chore of doing it on jack stands, it went fairly smoothly until I decided to install a new oil pickup tube (don't ask why - I can't explain). With the oil pump in place, time to replace the pan, which would not mate up properly to the block due to some interference. Long story short, I took the pick up tube off, reinstalled the oil pump and the pan fits flush. The new pickup tube (Melling brand) is a visual match to the old one. I suspect it's hitting the bottom of the pan before the surfaces mate.

Anyone have this experience? What am I missing? Is it just that obvious?

 

[tj johnny]

Pardon if I'm duplicating, but a weird situation: I pulled the pan on the '98 4.0 for the rear main. Aside from the chore of doing it on jack stands, it went fairly smoothly until I decided to install a new oil pickup tube (don't ask why - I can't explain). With the oil pump in place, time to replace the pan, which would notRela mate up properly to the block due to some interference. Long story short, I took the pick up tube off, reinstalled the oil pump and the pan fits flush. The new pickup tube (Melling brand) is a visual match to the old one. I suspect it's hitting the bottom of the pan before the surfaces mate.

Anyone have this experience? What am I missing? Is it just that obvious?

Related: anyone have experience with replacement high volume/high pressure pumps? Pros/cons?

 

[macleanflood]

I put in a normal volume Melling oil pump and pickup on my 97 when I did my rear main (took four tries and a Mopar seal...Felpro was junk). Fit perfectly. No clearance issues.

Was chasing oil pressure issues and that also was fixed with a Mopar oil sender.

Check your timing chain...you can just touch it enough to know if it needs done.

Red loctite...lots of posts with pics here.

-Mac