300tdi oil seal crankshaft - failure causes?

Finally the new clutch kit has arrived in Kazakhstan. This seems to be the problem, leaking oil into the cutch.

Fitting a new one but what might have caused this to leak? too much oil in the engine?

Crankcase overpressure,
Crank bearings gone,
Seals do wear eventually...
Cheapy seal?
Only fit a genuine seal if you can.

The crank seal of the 300 tdi is not a good design and often it,s not the seal itself that leaks but the gasket between the housing and the block.
Fit with RTV [high temp] sealant and use genuine seal and gasket if you can, the problem is two of the retaining bolts are rather far apart at the bottom of the unit.

Oh, leave the wadeing plug out if not needed too, less chance of leaks getting on the clutch then.

I don't think it's just random timing that I changed the engine oil about 4 days before the clutch went. I think the seals been bad for a while. At least i hope so - a quick change and then it's all well.

Do not be tempted to replace the seal holder with just the gasket or it will leak again.

i'm going new seal and gasket

I believe you also need to fit it with a dry crank bearing surface (i.e. don't lube the running surface)

NiallRussell said:

i'm going new seal and gasket

Click to expand...

I mean you need to use RTV sealant on the new seal unit and gasket.