I had a severe engine oil leak from the front crankshaft seal on our 92 240.
When I went to remove the seal I found it more difficult to remove than the descriptions I had read on this forum and it seemed to be in a recessed area in the seal carrier. Upon removal I realized that the seal had fallen out the back of the seal carrier thus causing the severe oil leak. This is a 130,000 mile one owner car. The seal had never been replaced before. It was an orange color Volvo seal. The crankshaft pulley seems to still be intact. Does anyone have any idea what would cause the seal to fall out the back of the seal carrier? I will be replacing it with a grey Volvo seal part # 1276425. Should I apply gasket adhesive to the outside of the seal upon installation?
Thank you

Thank You to all who responded for the excellent information.
Goatman, that explanation would probably explain the seal failure.
Thank You.

Using Adhesive; Toss of a coin there. I use t on my Cam Seals because they push in with your fingers so That scares me. Since I have the 'goop' handy, I used it on the Crank seal as well. That seal fits tight but I felt the Sealant would act as a slight lubricant.

Go slow and work your way around and around and around if you are tapping that seal in with a Drift.
--
'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me http://home.lyse.net/brox/TonyPage4.html

I can not account for the seal ending up where it did. Perhaps it was not the original seal as you suspect. Maybe if it was a replacement the person installing it did so improperly and drove it in far beyond where it should have been- perhaps to the extreme limits of its ability to remain in place? If that were the case maybe it finally lost its grasp of the carrier and fell back?

Lots of maybe and perhaps but the reason is not important. The only seals I have encountered on the red block Volvos that fit loose are the cam seals. I have used very small amounts of gasket cement on those to insure they remain in place. I have never had a crank seal fit loosely. Personally I would not use gasket cement on that seal.

Good luck,
Randy

Hi,


The Orange seals suck and are made by Elring. They fit loosely and the hydrodynamic relief was enough to pull the seal backwards out of the housing. Also take into account crankcase pressures.

The Volvo gray seals fit much tighter.


Goatman

Goatman, thank you for the reply. But I am not sure what hydrodynamic relief is.

Thank You

They are channels designed to draw the oil away from the edge of the seal, as the shaft rotates, the oil is channeled.

‘‘radial shaft seals with the hydrodynamically formed Waveseal lip [...]. The Waveseal lip has a sinusoidally formed lip edge which produces a pumping action to the inside as well as the outside, irrespective of the direction of rotation of the shaft (or the housing).’’

http://www.skf.com/portal/skf/home/products?maincatalogue=1&lang=en&newlink=4_0_5


Goatman