Having replaced my water pump and ready to install the timing belt, I noticed leakage around the crankshaft seal of my 1996 V6 4Runner. I have read on the earlier 4cyl models you can replace the crank seal without pulling the engine. Can that be done with the V6 as well? Can someone enlighten me?

 

Yes, it can be done without removing the engine. The difficult part is getting the crankshaft pulley off. Once you have the timing cover off, the crankshaft pulleys and seals are right there, not too difficult to access, just a terrible PITA to get the crankshaft pulley off, at least in my experience.

Here's a detailed writeup on the timing belt job, but no detail about the seals. Nonetheless, it may help you get down to the seal and/or do other parts of the timing belt/water pump service.

http://home.centurytel.net/stevenjac...lt/timing.html

 

When I did the seal on my 3.4 (on an engine stand) I drilled a pilot hole into the middle of the seal, avoiding contact with either the crank or oil pump housing, then screwed in a wood screw until the teeth caught the metal of the seal, then used a pair of pliers to pull the screw/seal combo out. The screw did pop out a few times and a new hole was needed before it finally was completely out.

 

this is essentially what worked to remove mine as well

 

Thanks for the help, I've removed the pulley and it appeared that I would have to remove the oil pump as well because I could not determine with the crank timing gear in place, if the seal was pressed in from the engine side or the front. FYI I noticed there are a couple of types of seal material, Nitrile and Polyacrylate. Timken uses the former and National the latter. According to my research, Polyacrylate is better for use with synthetics and as I use Amsoil everywhere, I decided to use a National Seal. The trick with the screw worked great, in fact the screw pulled the seal out as soon as it bottomed.