i have been reading a bunch of posts trying to find out if there is a conclusive way to know the rear main needs replacing (short of removing the tranny and looking). i have been helping a friend with his car which is leaking profusely. the leak shows itself at the transmission brace at the back of the engine. if you clean it up and wait 10 minutes, a few drops will have fallen. i noticed the small vacuum hose from the intake to the flame trap was totally clogged. i cleaned it out as well as the inlet ports on the flame trap and intake. if this was the cause, should the leak stop fairly quickly? is it possible that a clogged flame trap left long enough could irrevocably damage the seal? i removed the hose entering the breather box and when blowing into it, i could detect air moving out of the oil filler cap, so that part seems clear.

anyways, from the posts i have read, it sounds like the usual suspects for these leaks are the valve cover gasket, rear cam seal, and/or the rear main. i think the valve cover gasket and rear cam could be confirmed with a little cleaning and a mirror to look down there. any other ideas???

The mirror and the light method holds true for the rear main seal also. Just remove the brace and stick your mirror up there and you can see a fair amount of the bottom edge of the seal and seal housing.

Mark

thanks mark. just to confirm, it's safe to remove that transmission-engine bracket without supporting anything?

if the rear cam plug and valve cover look check out, are the odds of it being the rear main pretty good?

one other thing: the area around the breather box on that shelf that it sits on looks pretty wet. the PO claims his mechanic cleaned the whole system a few months ago, but i have my doubts as i pulled off the small vacuum hose from the flame trap to the intake and it was fully clogged as well as the ports. if the o-rings on the bottom of the breather box were failing, would that make a big mess or is that spot not a common place for a leak?

-kevin