Installed main crank seal too deep on Honda D17 engine

Question

So while installing the seal it popped in a bit too deep. Prying it back would off course damage it, so I left it like it is. According to everything I read it should be flush with the housing, but it's like 2 mm too deep. Here's some pictures:

This is on a honda D17 engine. It seems the seal housing has a little lip that makes it impossible to drive the seal in way too deep and block an oil passage or something:

You guys reckon this will be allright or should I redo it with a new seal? The crank surface itself was mint all the way down so the new position the seal is sitting on should be good.

Answer 1

There are two lines of thought here ...

First thought is "would this be okay?". The answer to this is rather subjective, because it really depends. As long as the seal itself is not deformed in any way and it is still sitting in line with the surface (it is exactly the same depth all the way around the seal), it should be just fine. Measuring it to figure out if it is exactly the same depth all the way around would be tough, though.

The second thought on this is "what is your time worth?". That's up to you, but realistically there's no way to know if the seal is perfectly mated with the crank seal and you won't know until you start the engine to see if it leaks oil. If it does, the "time" factor comes in here because you'll have to remove the engine again to get to the seal (or remove the transmission ... which ever way you wanted to do it) to install a new one. If, on the other hand, you wanted to spend the relatively small amount of money it would take to just replace it now and then install it correctly, it'll save you a lot of time later.

My suggestion? Replace the seal and get it in there correctly so you have piece of mind going forward.