IS it nesscesary to pull the engine out of a 1992 camaro 3.1, to change the main seal?

 

no u can pull the trans/fly wheel and do it, u do have to jack the motor up in the car to get the oil pan off though.
it is a bitch to do in the car,the motor is pretty simple to pull.though if u pull the motor doing a simple job like that always turns into more.(i.e lets see the motors out might as well install new rings/bearings etc lmao)

 

So it would be easier to just keep dumping oil in it.

 

It would be easier to continue dumping oil in it, but I think Dave was just saying tongue-in-cheek that if you pull the engine, you'll probably want to continue to spend more and do more since you have it out anyway. That's just the gearhead way.

If you have some time and patience, you should be able to just do as Dave said, "pull the trans/fly wheel and do it, u do have to jack the motor up in the car to get the oil pan off". It's definitely not as simple as changing spark plugs or something but it can be done without pulling the engine.

 

thats exactly what i meant.
but yes u can do it with the motor in the car,just make sure u have a free day or so to spend on it

 

Where's the oil leak? Is it down the back of the engine? If so, are you absolutely sure it's not the distributor o-ring that's leaking? They commonly dry up and cause a leak that looks like a rear main seal.

Just put your hand along the back of the distributor and feel down where the distributor meets the motor. If you pull your hand back out and it's covered in oil, you just need a new o-ring. It's a 1-inch diameter, 1/8th inch thick o-ring. When you pull the dist out to change it, the old o-ring will look like a hard black plastic circle, snap it out with a screwdriver and roll the new o-ring into place.

Then when you're putting the distributor back in, just make sure you seat it all the way into the intake manifold- the new o-ring will be wider than the hole and you may think it's seated, but it hasn't...