Oil leak

[crvc]

I put in a new O-ring and flywheel seal on Sunday.

Last night in the garage I set a sheet of Brawny paper towel on the concrete under the engine. 12 hours later I checked it before leaving for work. I found a 1.5 inch diameter spot of oil on the sheet. So after two years and two engine blocks there's still a leak. Although before changing blocks I would find a pool of oil 3 inches by 9 inches each morning.

So it's better but not perfect. Oh well.

I'll keep checking in hopes that it's old oil coming off the block rather than a smaller flywheel seal leak. I did see a sheen of oil on the bell housing when I had the flywheel off.

kevin

[helowrench]

did you change flywheels?

[Marc]

The seal and O-ring aren't the only sources of an oil leak in that area (just the most common). Sometimes it's oozing out around the sheetmetal plug in the cam tunnel (nothing can be done for that without splitting the case) or coming from one of the oil galley softplugs (that's really rare). If you had an H5/B5 block we'd suspect a crack near the bottom of #3 cylinder, but that's a rare occurrence on a "good" case, especially one with stock-size cylinders that has the sunken head stud at #3 upper-front.
How did the clutch disk look? Was it shiny or dry/dusty?

[crvc]

The disc was dry. I used the same 2yr old lightened flywheel. I repeated the paper test last night. This morning the paper towel was completely dry. I then checked oil level and in the cold engine oil was on the lower line. So could being a quart low be why there was no leak? I'll add a quart tonight and repeat the test tomorrow.

The bug originally had the B5 block. On your advice I threw it out. That was hard to do but since I had two other blocks....

kevin

[helowrench]

If the clutch disc was dry, I doubt the Oring is the seal runner on the flywheel, and the cam plug as marc mentioned.

the next step is determining whether it is a static leak, or dynamic leak.
The flywheel is a dynamic leak, and for the most part, the cam plug is a static leak.

if the oil leak only shows after running the car, it is dynamic, so you look more towards the areas that only see oil when the engine is running.

the way to check is to run the car, put cardboard etc in the area of the leak, and check every few hours. Dynamics will happen soon, and slow down over time:IE 4 drops at 2hrs 2 more drops at 4hrs, and diminishing over time.
the static leak will be very consistent over time. 3 drips at 2 hrs, 3 more at 4hrs, 3 more at 6hrs.

Anyway, if it is the flywheel seal, you will have a film of oil on the back of the flywheel. sometimes this is caused by a scratch on the area where the seal runs.

The cam plug can be sealed with the engine assembled, but it is tedious and time consuming.

[crvc]

Thanks,

This morning there was a 1.5 inch oil spot on the paper towel and a small drip still adhering to the block's front bottom edge, below the flywheel seal. I checked the oil level yesterday, saw in the cold engine that the level was on the lower line of the dipstick. So I added 500ml. This morning in the cold engine the oil level was midway between the upper and lower marks on the dipstick. This weekend I may have time to try the 'dynamic leak' test. I can't imagine I'll do anything more to stop the leak. Perhaps smear sealant all around the bottom midline?

I do have the other block. This was from a '69 type-3 that had been converted into a type-1 style. I had it line bored, new cylinders, new valves and guides, case savers. But it had a custom camshaft. I assume that's why it got about 14MPG. I have a camshaft that came out of a '74 fuel-injected type-1 engine.

kevin

[Marc]

Your perseverence in addressing your oil leak did succeed in making me feel guilty for accepting the leak coming from the oil pump on the trike I bought last month. I park it in a gravel driveway at home so it's easy to ignore (and I plan to change the engine this fall anyway), but it has been a bit embarrassing the way it "marks its spot" when left in a public place. The other day I changed the oil for the first time and it took almost two hours by the time all the strainer studs were repaired, that was a harbringer of the oil pump job (the previous owner in Oregon was paying some real hacks to maintain this thing). One of the pump studs had been replaced with a 5/16NF bolt, and another had been driven so deeply into the case that it contacted the cam gear and dug a groove in it. The cover was glued on with about a tablespoon of thick, hardening gasket sealant (which of course still didn't stop the leak). It must've taken me at least a half-hour to weld up and custom-grind a puller to fit the pump - they'd installed a small-passage 311 pump in the `74 case, and I haven't owned a puller that'd fit such a pump in decades. Another couple of hours out of my life to do what should've been a 30-minute job, but worth it I suppose

[Phil69]

Your perseverence in addressing your oil leak did succeed in making me feel guilty for accepting the leak coming from the oil pump on the trike I bought last month. I park it in a gravel driveway at home so it's easy to ignore (and I plan to change the engine this fall anyway), but it has been a bit embarrassing the way it "marks its spot" when left in a public place. The other day I changed the oil for the first time and it took almost two hours by the time all the strainer studs were repaired, that was a harbringer of the oil pump job (the previous owner in Oregon was paying some real hacks to maintain this thing). One of the pump studs had been replaced with a 5/16NF bolt, and another had been driven so deeply into the case that it contacted the cam gear and dug a groove in it. The cover was glued on with about a tablespoon of thick, hardening gasket sealant (which of course still didn't stop the leak). It must've taken me at least a half-hour to weld up and custom-grind a puller to fit the pump - they'd installed a small-passage 311 pump in the `74 case, and I haven't owned a puller that'd fit such a pump in decades. Another couple of hours out of my life to do what should've been a 30-minute job, but worth it I suppose

It amazes me how these little engines keep running sometimes.

[crvc]

It's not a toy, it's not a hobby car that only leaves the garage in summer. When my daughters left for college one took my Subaru and the other took my wife's Honda. She bought a Prius because she finds reasons to visit them regularly even though they're 3 hours away. So a hobby turned into my daily driver irrespective of weather, which is cold and snowy much of the time. When the girls were home on break I'd have my Subaru to get to work and could get major chores done on the bug.

But now that they've graduated they've gotten jobs and are staying in Salt Lake City. So I'm never getting the Subaru back and they aren't getting time off to visit.

Next time something fails I'm back to riding a bicycle to work.

kevin