crank seal and transmission breather.

[wiz043]

I have 2 questions re my 1999 MX5 auto.

1. I have a very slight oil leak at my rear crank seal. Does the motor have to come out to replace this seal?

2. My auto transmission gearbox has a breather which apparently releases any slight build up of oil due to pressure. Perhaps the manual gearboxes have this too? Anyway in my case the oil has been seeping from the breather and dripping a little under the car after a long run.
My mechanic did not seem too concerned about this and attached a rubber hose to the breather and connected it to a small filtered jar with a hollow pipe built in and mounted it high in the engine bay so that I could inspect it easily for any oil build up,mainly so it wouldn't drip on the frame etc. So far no oil has entered the jar and if it did I would imagine it would flow back once it cools. Perhaps something similar should have been there in the first place.

The auto transmission itself performs perfectly.

Am I making sense and has anyone experienced this?

Thanks 4 any help as I haven't had the car long and I am still learning.

[fattima]

For the rear crank seal the auto will need to be removed, they should be able to do it with the engine in the car.
This excellent article by Wuey about clutch replacement shows the rear crank seal replacement. Even though your car is an auto the seal replacement section is the same.
http://www.miata.net/garage/clutch/index.html