I'm gonna be replacing all 3 front engine seals on my '89 740 na b230f... at least one if not all of them leak.

I'm wondering if anyone has any tips/ suggestions on how to make this job go smoothly. I've never done engine seals before.

I bought a timing belt...tensioner and spring....tensioner bolt as well. All the parts are Volvo branded. I have replaced a timing belt once on a b230f but the belt was all I did.

I've already replaced the oil separator box with a cleaned oem box from a parts car and cleaned the flame trap. Also cleaned the various hoses and cleaned the nipple of the intake manifold.

I bought 2 tools from Robertdiy to seat the seals... one of which is shown in this video


So... what say y'all....

 

I replaced the rolled guide pins last time I did this because you have to take the pulleys off anyway (mine were almost completely sheared) I highly highly recommend this in addition to the seals. (you will need 2)

https://www.ipdusa.com/products/8531...-b23-b230-b234

As for the seals, mine were super loose in there (not leaking but still came out with no tools) typically you will need a good seal puller such as this:

Sears.com

be sure not to scratch the seal walls

use a very light layer of clean engine oil to lube the seal as you place it (even if you just changed your engine oil do not simply taker off the oil fill cap to get a little oil use new clean oil!)

the gift you got it perfect, in the past I used various sized sockets in order to place the seals but the actual tool exists for a reason

lastly, take a photo of each seal before you pull it out, you want the new seal to be seated exactly the same depth (you will see a bevel inside the seal housing, the seal should be flush with the inner edge of that bevel)

use a light tap of that tool to set the seals, making sure they go in evenly and don't get snagged on anything. tap to set it, check it, reset and tap again, check and reset, tap check reset and so on

 

not sure if the 740s share this problem with the 850s but leaking from multiple seals can be a sign of a clogged PCV system. Best to check if that's the root cause.

 

B230F's "PCV" system is pretty simple, but yeah, make sure the oil separator box and flame trap (no flame trap on turbos) isn't all plugged up

 

"I've already replaced the oil separator box with a cleaned oem box from a parts car and cleaned the flame trap. Also cleaned the various hoses and cleaned the nipple of the intake manifold."

Thanks fellas... last thing I want to do is replace these seals and then blow out the rear main seal... that would suck.

Anyway I got those ipd pins coming and I'll go from there.

Unfortunately I don't think my crank hold tool will work... Looks like this car has an aftermarket crank pulley on it.

 

there are a few things you can do

The "rope trick" filling the cylinder #1 with nylon rope and compressing it being careful too only compress it on the normal compression stroke

get a heavy duty hose clamp around the balancer and brace it against a pipe in the wheel well or ground (worked fine for me)

or most recently I got a long square pipe, 2 grade 8 bolts about 3 inches long and ran them through the pipe at one end about 2 inches apart. This fit in the shots of the balancer and made a great hold down tool