RearMain seal oil leak - 2000 VG33E R50 Pathfinder - Australia

[Davus]

Hello from Australia folks!.

 

MY son (17 years old), has just bought his first car, in preparation for his 18th Birthday (when he is legally allowed to drive by himself) - Yes, Australian rules We pick the car up later today! 

 

There are a couple of items we need to do quickly to get the car on the road, one of which is the rear main seal. 

 

I've read a few posts on this forum (and others), which seem to indicate that oil pan needs to be dropped, which means the subframe needs to be dropped. However when reading these forums, Ive noticed that they mostly seem to be talking about American builds, which run the 3.5L VQ35DE V6, whereas the Australian release runs the 3.3L VG33E engine. I think this may be more related to the year rather than the release country?

 

My question is, has anybody got experience in changing the rear main seal on the VG33E 3.3L engine?. Is it as involved as the 3.5L variant?.

 

Link to any possible how-to's would be greatly appreciated. I've not been able to find anyhting relevant. 

 

Thankyou!

[adamzan]

VG33E was used in the R50 until 2000 here in NA as well. I have one in my Xterra and it is very similar to the 3.0 in the WD21 terrano/pathfinder.

 

Now for the bad news, you need to unbolt the transmission and pull it back to replace the rear main seal. There really is no other way. It is set in a retainer on the back of the engine. I'll find a pic. The good news is since it is not an wd21 or an Xterra, you don't have to fight with the torsion bars in the way. Should be fairly simple to remove or at least pull back the transmission.

 

This is what it looks like:

 

 

Edited June 4, 2025 by adamzan

[Davus]

Thankyou mate. 
 

I pulled the transmission, and unfortunately found that the leak is actually coming from the rear seal of the sump, and not the rear main. 
 

I changed the rear main while I was there anyway, and have temporarily sealed the oil leak with some RTV. 
 

In the next month or so I guess I’ll need to either pull the engine out, or drop the sub frame to get the sump out and change the gaskets. 
 

Thanks!

[adamzan]

Ah cripes, if you haven't put it back together yet, note that the RMS retainer comes off and you can change that sump gasket at the same time.