Crank seal

Tiny
MUNYARADZI
  • MEMBER
  • 2001 MERCEDES BENZ E240
  • 2.4L
  • V6
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 174,600 MILES
If a serpentine belt goes bad can it affect crank seal causing it to leak?
Friday, May 17th, 2019 AT 12:18 AM

4 Replies

Tiny
MOTOR MASTER
  • MECHANIC
  • 279 POSTS
Hello my name is Dave.

Having built a long career working on cars I never say never, however it is highly unlikely that the serpentine belt to caused the seal to fail. However, it is possible for the seal leaking to cause the belt to fail by saturating the belt with oil.
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Friday, May 17th, 2019 AT 4:31 AM
Tiny
SCGRANTURISMO
  • MECHANIC
  • 4,897 POSTS
Hello,

No. The Front Main or Front Crankshaft seal is usually a lip seal that goes around the crankshaft. The Crankshaft Pulley or Harmonic Balancer is attached to the front of the crankshaft but is precision machined and much to heavy and is almost pressed onto the crankshaft so that no matter what the serpentine belt does it would not cause any type of off balance play that would cause damage to the Front Main Seal. Also the crankshaft is held in place by the main bearings and they are machines to the thousands of an inch to ensure that the crankshaft is true. If you should have any other vehicle related questions, please, feel free to ask.

Thanks,
Alex
2CarPros
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Friday, May 17th, 2019 AT 4:31 AM
Tiny
MUNYARADZI
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What about the tensioner bearing goes bad it affects the belt right? During that wobbling can it affect crank seal?
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Friday, May 17th, 2019 AT 4:34 AM
Tiny
SCGRANTURISMO
  • MECHANIC
  • 4,897 POSTS
Hello again,

No. The serpentine belt would just come off the harmonic balancer if there was a problem. What would cause a Front Main Seal to wear out prematurely would be a crankshaft that was out of round, main bearing failure, or crankshaft end play. Other than that a front or rear main oil seal will wear out through normal wear and tear. If your serpentine belt was to shred on the side a little some of it that comes off could get wedged and possibly damage your front main seal, but that about it. I have included a link below for you to go to.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/symptoms-of-a-front-crankshaft-seal-leak

Please go through the guide and get back to us with what you find out.

Thanks,
Alex
2CarPros
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Friday, May 17th, 2019 AT 7:39 PM

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