Water pump driveshaft seal question

[94 formula]

I've ripped two now trying to install them and think it is actually a screw up by felpro (I'm talking about the round seal that presses into the timing cover and seals around the W.P. drive shaft). The felpro ones look smaller than the factory so I'm on my way now to pick one up at the dealership but is there a trick to this that I don't know. It looks pretty straight forward to me but I'm worried I'm messing up somewhere and don't want to screw up another seal. Any advice?

[DeWynter]

Use a bit of assembly lube or engine oil? Good thing seals are cheap!

[Joe 1320]

There is a trick to the install to prevent tearing of the seal. Cut a 1 inch by 3 inch piece of plastic from a 2 liter soda bottle. Roll that up into a tube, lube it and insert into the oil seal. As you work the seal onto the cover ,place the drive shaft into the plastic tube, help by expanding the one end slightly and also expanding the tube as much as possible within the seal. Once the seal is driven into the cover, pull the plastic tube outward and the seal seats in place without tearing.

[Rob B (shoebox)]

There is a trick to the install to prevent tearing of the seal. Cut a 1 inch by 3 inch piece of plastic from a 2 liter soda bottle. Roll that up into a tube, lube it and insert into the oil seal. As you work the seal onto the cover ,place the drive shaft into the plastic tube, help by expanding the one end slightly and also expanding the tube as much as possible within the seal. Once the seal is driven into the cover, pull the plastic tube outward and the seal seats in place without tearing.

Either that or use a deep socket or the w/p drive coupler to slide the seal onto. Butt that up against the drive and slip the seal on. The point is not to catch the lip of the inner seal on the front of the drive. Lots of people have terrible trouble with this.

[94 formula]

Thank you for the advice. I went to the dealership today to pick up my seal and they had the seal for the opti laying out for me. After some discussion and looking at the computer the guy at the parts desk finally admitted he was wrong and didn't seem to happy a 19 year old caught his mistake lol. He then told me I couldn't order just one that they only shipped them 10 at a time and I had the choice of driving over 50 miles to another dealership to pick one up or I could just order the ten of them at $.61 a piece. I figured it would be less to just order ten for $6.10 than the gas to drive 50 miles each way and now I get 10 tries lol.