Went to the dealer to get a new rear main seal. Turns out it doesn't have the garter spring that I've seen on every other seal I've ever seen. There was a really small groove right by the outter edge of the lip, and a normal garter spring from the old seal wouldn't fit in it. Honestly I really didn't want to run it. It looked like it wouldn't seal for s**t. I wound up just getting a national spring style seal and using that. After the SKF didn't fit(too big).....wtf. Anyways, got the seal in and started to relax and started googling springless seal. Turns out this might actually be a thing on newer VW's and BMW's.

So did I just get a bad seal or did GM really switch to some springless seal? Anyone run into this yet? I don't know if I should b*tch and try and return it. I opened the packaging before realizing something was off.

P.s. Sorry if this is in the wrong area, as it propably applies to all Cobalts.

 

ive put in a lot of those teflon seals before with mixed results. they are oe in all dodge cummins diesels 91-current and they work great, but other applications that came stock with a typical spring seal its been hit and miss. i prefer a spring style seal, they typically work better.

 

im running the stock r.m.s. works great

 

A properly installed stock seal is perfectly fine.

 

It was a stock seal direct from the Chevrolet dealer. There was such little tension on lip it might have just been defective. Or the OEM has been superceded by a new seal. Maybe if the engine started life with a springless seal I'd trust it more.

 

i used a springless on mine when i rebuilt it no leaks

 

Do these go in wet or dry? What else consists of a "proper install" I already have the installer handy.

 

light coating of oil on crank sealing area, block sealing area clean and dry

 

I'll add the front main is also springless. I've been running that for a few hundred miles and zero issues.