Does anyone have any experience changing the rear main in the 5.4L? I noticed some oil dripping slowly today and that appears to be the source. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

do your best to make sure that it is not the oil pan gasket. i pulled the trans on a truck i had expecting to do the rear seal and it was the oil pan gasket that had split at the aft most in the center. i could drive and not loose any or much oil. when i parked it would leak for only a short period, must have been the oil draining down.

 

It's not to hard if you have some mechanically inclined friends. We changed out the rear gears in my truck and the main seal at the same time. All together it took maybe 6 hours and we was taking our sweat time. Seal should take maybe 2. Hard part is getting the torque set right and that's where experience comes in to play. Now would also be good time to get a new differential cover while you're at it with drain plugs. Can you post a photo of this leaking area? Might help us help you out. Hopefully someone can chime in with more experience on this.

Also get a alldatadiy.com account or a Chilton manual.

 

I'm just a bit confused, I thought the op was talking about the rear main seal on the engine.

 

rear main seal is highly unlikely. If it leaks at all times then its your oil pan gasket (if not like valve cover(s). However, if it only leaks when the truck is running, and it runs out like no tomorrow then its rear main

 

whoa yea perhaps! i spend too much time thinking on drive train.:o

 

I think that my rear seal on my "engine" is starting to leak. The plug on the bottom of the bell housing is constantly damp with oil. It's not dripping yet but it appears to be motor oil. I noticed the dampness at around 20k miles but the dealer wouldn't touch it unless it was dripping. So now that I'm out of warranty it is definitely getting worse and will have to be fixed sometime but I'm waiting until is starts making a mess in the driveway.