ABB Motors and Generators manufacture large AC machines with oil lubricated plainbearings. The machines have occasional problems with oil leakage from the bearings. aproblem that ABB wants to be solved.In this thesis the cause of this leakage were investigated, with focus on the bearingseals.The purpose of this work was also to suggest amndments for preventing thisproblem. , and to suggest improvements that can prevent this. The first step was todo a literature survey of earlier work on this problem, study the theory ofhydrodynamic bearings and different types of seals and their properties. Severalexperiments and pressure measurements were performed on machines in operation.The results were then analyzed to identify the causes of leakage and to confirm/oreliminate the hypotheses that had been stablished in the earlier stage of this work.Finally, recommendations for problem management was proposed. New designs werealso developed based on the experimental findings, interviews with the technicians inthe company, and observations on the manufacturing and repairing procedures madeduring this work.The experimental and analytical results suggests that the current design of the bearingsystmem is sensitive to oil leakage. It has been discovered that pressure is the mostrelevant parameter, while several other parameters also contribute to the problem.