Thought I'd share what I've been working on the past few days with my 1988 323. I knew the seals were leaking. Also saw some coolant coming out the bottom of the timing belt cover, so it was time for a major overhaul. Bought a special tool to remove the center bolt that holds the crankshaft gear in place. Everything else came apart easy enough. Started to panic trying to get the old seal out. Finally got a screwdriver beween the crank and seal and popped out the old leaky seal. The replacement seal went in with some pounding using a wood block and hammer. The picture shows the before and after.
Here's a picture of the front part of the engine put back together with new water pump and timing belt. Also installed a new tensioner, took me awhile to figure out how it was connected up. Rotated the belt several times and everything lines up top dead center on the cam and crank side.
The Mazda workshop manual says to remove the engine mount and alternator. Even made up an engine support bar to hang the engine with the mount removed. Turned out I never had to remove the mount or the alternator, don't know why Mazda says so.
I knew the seals were leaking. Also saw some coolant coming out the bottom of the timing belt cover,
[IMG]local://upfiles/18935/7DD3D602A7D745148B5DAA3535019BCA.jpg[/IMG]
I am asking why coolant would be coming from the crank seal? Seriously, I thought there was only oil there....not being anal here, in fact I am seeing the same thing on an '88. A drop of water appears below the crank snout overnight. i am getting the engine cleaned up to locate the the leak. I suspect the pump or bypass/lower hose.
I have not found the leak yet. The pump appears to have many hairline cracks, but may be just the casting
I am asking why coolant would be coming from the crank seal?
I never wrote that coolant was leaking out of the crank seal. The water pump is directly above the front crankshaft. In my car coolant was leaking out of the lower waterpump bolt, which would then drip down on the crankshaft gear and settle to the bottom of of the whole front end.
The reason why I replaced the front crankshaft seal is because it was leaking oil. Lots of it.
Front crankshaft seal installation
