ACE block seals. What have I done wrong?? Grrr!

Hi.
I've spent the afternoon replacing my pipe seals on the front of the ace block.
I've been putting it if because of all the bad stories on here and other forums regarding how tricky it is. Anyway, I had nothing else to do today so decided to give it a go. I had bought 4 seal kits a while back and read up everywhere to get as much info as possible. I have to say it all went surprisingly well. Everything came out and went back in relatively easily and I was feeling pretty pleased with myself as I was filling up the resovoir. But I should have realised that nothing is really that simple.
The fluid was literally pouring/spurting out after starting the engine.
Can somebody give me some ideas as to what I have done wrong? As I said, the old seals came out easily and the new ones went in easily. Just a couple of taps with a hammer as per the instructions. The pipes are in good condition and were not hard to get back in so they were not forced. It's like there is no seal at all on the bottom pipe.
I'm going to have to take it all apart again tomorrow but just wanted to see if anyone here has had similar problems and managed to resolve them.
Any help will be gratefully received.

were the seals genuine LR or britpart ?,sounds like you just got unlucky with one.

Hi. They were britpart.

Did you lubricate the o-rings before fitting or did they go in dry? (ooo err :5bblush5

Yes everything was well lubed! It all seemed too easy.

classic proof of fake economy when you buy cheap sh*t instead of genuine/OEM for these 'sensible' places... happened to me too with seals bought from ebay...went for OEM from online store then and it was OK... anyway, look to the old seals, do they have all the o-rings on?...just to make sure

...unless there was a leak before you replaced them which was not caused by the seals but some crack and it got worst as you tapped there...on nmine was no leak at the seals, i replaced them cos i had to replace a leaking pipe

Are you sure all the parts were present? From my memory there is a spacer arrangement which fits around the pipes supporting them to ensure they enter the block straight and make proper contact with the seals. If any are missing then it will lead to problems for sure. I think I have some old ones I garage so if you dont know what I mean I can post pics.

I didn't think they were that cheap at £14 each for a little collection of O rings. Are the LR ones really that different?
Yep all parts were present. The little plastic collars which go around the flange on the pipes (which is what I think you mean) were present and not damaged. I'm certain that all the original o rings were removed as the new insert wouldn't have gone all the way in if there was still one in there.
It's all coming out again tomorrow so hopefully it will be obvious. But I doubt it somehow!

ive found squeezing them in with g clamp etc a better way ,when you remove pipe check o rings and backers are seated using a torch o rings easily get damaged ,and in block theres a step and hole inner holes edge can corrode catching o rings on there way through sometimes you need to carefully clean edge up

willpow said:

I didn't think they were that cheap at £14 each for a little collection of O rings. Are the LR ones really that different?
Yep all parts were present. The little plastic collars which go around the flange on the pipes (which is what I think you mean) were present and not damaged. I'm certain that all the original o rings were removed as the new insert wouldn't have gone all the way in if there was still one in there.
It's all coming out again tomorrow so hopefully it will be obvious. But I doubt it somehow!

Click to expand...

Yeh those were the ones I meant. Sounds like jamesmartins suggestion is your way forward now.

Taken it all off again and found that on one of the new inserts the o rings were completely mullered. I guess I just didn't line up the pipe end accurately enough. Off to find some replacements.
I did notice that the ones that I took out had an additional o ring right on the plastic bit (the fat end) which is bigger than the two on the other end. I've checked the photos of the ones I bought and there definitely wasn't one on those.
Does anyone think that it should be there or was that just something the last repairer did as a little extra?