Hi,

Here is a tip, leave it alone! Its not leaking, so, why gamble with another seal that is not proven to work ... yet?
The Camshaft seal was probably sized wrong to begin with. It’s not the first time I have read or seen this, especially, from the Elring seal kits!

Color does not matter so much as the fit does!
The Viton brand has a slightly higher operating temperature range. Meant to be used with thermal transfer fluids that push 400+ degrees.
The need is not as crucial in gasoline or diesel applications.

The oil seldom exceeds 240 degrees in the pan and hopefully the head does not either under normal thermostat control.
The kicker with a single lip seal is a minimal amount of crankcase pressure can get exceeded from blowby that causes the seepage. In your case, the O.D. is too small or shrunk!
I have read where some people have gone to using adhesives or a sealant combination on the O.D.s.
When money is not a production issue and pressure(s) or high speed rotation is, a Labyrinth seal would be a better design but is over kill for these purposes. So we are left with the cheaper routine of R&R.

Silicone EDPM was a new normal many years ago that now fits in between the replacement over standard black Neoprene EPDM. The enhanced Viton quality costs of has gone cheaper over the recent years. One has to shop for it still and it is found more easily in popular seal sizes that they are showing up in kits today!


If and When, it comes to you ever doing a rear Crank shaft seal go without the name Elring on them.
Their problem is it has a 93mm diameter on the inside, when the crankshafts diameter, is a true 92mm!
That diameter just happens to be an American dimension straight across with only couple thousandths difference.
I don’t use Elring but I get a Timken boxed seal that’s made by National Seals. National and (CR) Chicago Rawhide we’re competitors before that. National is orange or a dark brown depending on shade to one’s eyes and is so much like OEM Volvo ones I have seen that last so long.
Oh! Don’t be surprised that SKF may own National now as they have gotten a lot bigger. Elring seems to be lagging in quality IMHO today!

If Elring has any kind of bad reputation out there, it’s from these two seals, all by themselves among the red block motors!
I will bet the same “clown” at the company, that specified the Crank seal, also did the outside diameter of the Camshaft seal!
There is a fit problem or since it’s the camshaft, it’s probably head heat affecting an inferior material thickness on the O.D.

It’s not unusual for diameters to cross sizes into metric.
For all we know the Crankshaft was originally sold to Volvo made by American vendors?
The first great Honda racing six cylinder motorcycle engine of the sixties had a forged crankshaft made for that one of a kind engine by Ford! Honda’s kept breaking theirs as forging crankshafts was new around those years!
Today they have to produce 200 or more models to come a racing!

Our red block engine design goes back a long ways as does the making of those oil seals have changed!
How is the front crankshaft seal doing?
Why change two out of three when it gets more oil up behind it than the distributors intermediate shaft does?
Changing the bottom seal is a whole lot more work than changing only the camshaft seal.
If the others are not a problem, give the other two another 30,000 miles and go back and do everything if it’s needed.

Of course, this is only a Tip, when it’s a judgement call, on what you got there!

Phil