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Rear Main Oil Seal

Q. I own a 2004 Dodge Viper convertible and have a rear main oil seal leak that I can’t seem to solve. I have installed a new seal from Dodge and resealed the oil pan with a new gasket – also put Loctite® on all the pan bolts. I use Royal Purple SAE 10W-30 oil, just for your info. Do you have any suggestions on procedure or parts?

A. Sounds like you’ve done all the right stuff. The only thing I can think of is: Did you look at the crank flange surface that rides the seal? If there was a groove worn in it (even if slight) a new seal may not work. I know this would not be an easy thing to check now that you have the motor back together. I don’t know anything about the Royal Purple oil, but if it’s real slippery stuff, you might want to try going back to a factory oil fill just to see if that might help. It would be a relatively easy thing to do. Good luck.