wagne223
Platinum Member
I'll bet it's leaked into the transmission bell house and you don't even know. I'll bet it drips too. It's a design flaw in the engine. Two main reasons a RMS will fail, failed bearing on crankshaft, warped crank.
Ive been in the auto/light truck repair industry for 23 years. I have to disagree with your statement. While a failed crank bearing and a warped crank will cause a seal failure, They are not the main reason.
The most common causes for crank seal (or any engine seals) is time and heat. Oil rots rubber. Over time, with all the heat cycles, the seals become less flexible and eventually turn hard and brittle. They can even shrink to the point of falling out of their seats.
Any engine, from any manufacturer will experience this. Typically seen once a vehicle reaches 10 years old or 100 - 150,000 miles.
The only way to avoid major engine damage is to inspect your vehicle at typical maintenance intervals and repair oil leaks upon noticing them.
Problem is.......most people see a leak and just deal with it adding oil as necessary. Well eventually the seal will come out on its own and oil will rapidly flow out of the engine. Then a catastrophic failure happens.
This issue will be "normal" until a new sealing material is developed.