Just received this seal, and the two lips on the inner ring of the seal seem hard and fragile. I figured they would softer and pliable, but I don't know-never replaced this seal before. Is this the way this seal should be, or is my seal old and hardened? It is a new seal, and a genuine GM part.

Ok, I've looked at it again. The existing seal has the p/n 10108633, and is made of the same dark grey rubber as the other 2 front cover seals. Just curious as to why the p/n is different from the seal I was given, which is 10217886?

 

If it is the GM part then it is probably fine. I had to replace the seals on my optispark, and they were also hard. Apparently they are suppose to be this way because when I tried using regular o-rings, which "felt better," the oil flowed right through the o-rings and into my optispark. I would imagine it is the same with the water pump seals.

 

The parts manual shows 10219554 as the wp shaft seal