General Fiat Ducato 2.3 jtd Crankshaft Oil seal Modification

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General Fiat Ducato 2.3 jtd Crankshaft Oil seal Modification

derickp

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Oct 30, 2006
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Dear All,
Having been in the Motor trade one way or another for 40 plus years I consider iIam pretty well versed in proceedurs and strip down. I have never paid a garage bill for my own vehicles in 30 years and done all my own repairs. engine rebuilds, or whatever else was required. However having lost touch since retirement from the Motor trade I find I am at a loss with my 2003 Ducato 2.3 jtd. I purchased the vehicle to convert to a Motor caravan (which has been done, our 7th conversion) and as part of the complete sevice before going on the road with a fresh vehicle I proceeded to change the Cambelt. Having had a Peugeot boxer prior to that there were some similarities in the stripdown but not all. Most things after 40 years are common sense but there are new ideas and the tech spec is always required. However No Fiat Manuals are available for these vehicle but I recently purchase the latest Fiat parts & maintennance Cd/dvd's and these were a good help in most ways. However once the front bumper was off and the radiator, intercooler, engine mountings, battery box and other bits I then got inside the timing cover and noticed a small but definate leak around the bottom crankshaft pulley. The Crankshaft oil seal being suspect. So I orderd new parts and when the arrived i checked them to find the oil seal part number was not as listed on the Parts DVD but a different one totally. I queried this and it was confirmed as a replacement part. However in all my years I have never seen an oiil seal like this. Oil seals are normally Loaded from the inside (the side where the pressure is excerted) many often have a spring too in order to grip the shaft they are creating the seal on. This new seal however has no centre rubber lip, it is faced with the taper away from the pressure on the shaft so there is no loading at all, rather if pressure was great enough the oil would force the seal open. Add to this that the material is of a cardboardy fibre type stuff I am at a total loss as to how it will seal. Also there is a steel sleave on the shaft after the old oil seal was removed and it would be impossible to place the new seal over this without damage to the new seal. PLEASE PLEASE has anyone come accross this. Are any of you lads still in the workshops working on these. Is this seal OK, do they continue to seal when hot and under pressure. I do 10,000 to 15,000 miles a year in my Motor caravan and don't want to be caught out on the road with a busted oil seal. I would be glad of any suggestions. I could put it together and try it but it would be a waste of time, Oil etc if it were all to come out again. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. I have asked at the local dealer garage and was amazed at some of the comments. One being OH I haven't a clue what one looks like...we don't strip engines anymore..we just replace the unit complete. I realised why they were called Fitters now and not Mechanics or engineers as they were in my day. Hoping someone can help. I am new to the site and have enjoyed reading much of the stuff. Hope some of you true mechanics or genuine rebuilders are out there.
Many Thanks in anticipation.

Derick
 
I don't know the answer to your question, have you tried your Fiat dealer? Mines pretty good although whether they ever strip engines is doubtful too I expect. I have an electronic manual from these people http://www.workshopmanuals.co.uk/ which appears to be the genuine Fiat article. Unfortunately, I can't get it to run properly at the moment since I seem to have moved it to a new drive and it doesn't like it. I have got quite a bit of info from it in the last few months by way of wiring diagrams and descriptions. At a first pass, though, it doesn't seem to have an exploded diagram of the engine, maybe aimed at dealers who just "fit" complete engines from the factory! That's progress for you.
 
i've never heard of a crankshaft oil seal that works like the one you have described. in fact it doesnt even sound like an oil seal at all, certainly not one i've ever come across. i think its more likely that they have supplied the wrong part :confused:
when you removed the old seal was it the same as the new one? if it is the same then i would assume it is the correct part and the technique used for fitting will be the key. if it looks different to the seal you removed then you really should not even attempt to use it. at a dealership they will have detailed parts diagrams which they use to get part numbers, dont trust the person working there to use it correctly, make sure you can see the part numbers and check they use the right one.
 
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