oil leak

[A L 3 X]

Right, got an oil leak it seems which i've just found today.

About a month ago my clutch started slipping uphils in 3rd/4th once it hit full boost, so I replaced it with an Exedy Organic and changed the crank seal while I was at it. There did look to be some oil residue around the crank seal and the sealant stuff for the sump below it.

Today I noticed there was some oil on the bottom of the box, so seeing as I changed the crank seal what could the issue be?

 

[AdamB]

Oil filter housing or cam cover seal. Mines got the same problem at the moment. Replaced crank seals less than 4000 miles ago so I'm going for the oil filter housing leaking.

 

[A L 3 X]

would it be around the bottom of the box if it was the oil filter housing?

As long as its something simple and not the gearbox side crank seal again as i dont want to be removing my box ..s

ive also heard it could be the sump?

 

[Texx]

Did you check that the old oil seal hadn't worn a groove into the crank? I replaced the rear seal last time I put a clutch in the car and thought I might get away with it, sadly even with a new £37 oil seal it still leaks like a sieve. I've got another crank sat here that has the same problem but I've had a repair sleeve fitted to cover the groove, still not decided whether to build the engine up that the crank came out of or just swap the cranks over.

It's worth whipping the sump of and resealing, just don't be surprised if the rear seal is still leaking.

 

[dac69er]

Did you check that the old oil seal hadn't worn a groove into the crank? I replaced the rear seal last time I put a clutch in the car and thought I might get away with it, sadly even with a new £37 oil seal it still leaks like a sieve. I've got another crank sat here that has the same problem but I've had a repair sleeve fitted to cover the groove, still not decided whether to build the engine up that the crank came out of or just swap the cranks over.

It's worth whipping the sump of and resealing, just don't be surprised if the rear seal is still leaking.

i had the same problem. changed my rear main and after 6 months it started leaking again. when i rebuild i will have a look

 

[Texx]

Not the best photo, but this is the repair sleeve on the crank:

Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the groove wear, but it looked very much like this although maybe a little deeper:

 

[A L 3 X]

Did you check that the old oil seal hadn't worn a groove into the crank? I replaced the rear seal last time I put a clutch in the car and thought I might get away with it, sadly even with a new £37 oil seal it still leaks like a sieve. I've got another crank sat here that has the same problem but I've had a repair sleeve fitted to cover the groove, still not decided whether to build the engine up that the crank came out of or just swap the cranks over.

It's worth whipping the sump of and resealing, just don't be surprised if the rear seal is still leaking.

I didn't tbh mate as I didn't know :/, god thats a pain then,although at this current moment I have no clutch slippage, does this rule anything out?

Thats a real bastard if it is that, what is involved in repairing if it is?

Also, is there a way to check without taking anything apart as I have a few hours tomorrow to diagnose?

 

[A L 3 X]

Just seen the pic mate, which part do you mean, the little fine groove all the way around?

And is the part pictured the bit the flywheel bolts onto?

 

[Texx]

The rear seal would have to be leaking real bad to contaminate the clutch and cause it to slip, so that wouldn't be a valid reason to rule it out.

Check the obvious for leaks first such as the cam cover gasket, distributor oil seal and also the sealer around the sump. It's going to be difficult to identify the source of the leak when everything is already covered in oil, so get the car jacked up and give all the contaminated areas a good clean. You can either go and buy some engine degreaser or if you have some dishwasher tablets dissolve a couple in some boiling water, then using a brush clean off the oil and then wash everything down with a hose (try not to point the hose directly at the distributor cap). Once everything is nice and dry run the engine up to temperature and see if you can find the source of the oil leak, you may want to give a few blast on the throttle just to bring the oil pressure up and make the leak more apparent.

 

[A L 3 X]

The rear seal would have to be leaking real bad to contaminate the clutch and cause it to slip, so that wouldn't be a valid reason to rule it out.

Check the obvious for leaks first such as the cam cover gasket, distributor oil seal and also the sealer around the sump. It's going to be difficult to identify the source of the leak when everything is already covered in oil, so get the car jacked up and give all the contaminated areas a good clean. You can either go and buy some engine degreaser or if you have some dishwasher tablets dissolve a couple in some boiling water, then using a brush clean off the oil and then wash everything down with a hose (try not to point the hose directly at the distributor cap). Once everything is nice and dry run the engine up to temperature and see if you can find the source of the oil leak, you may want to give a few blast on the throttle just to bring the oil pressure up and make the leak more apparent.

Ah really?so then my old clutch slipping wasn't likely to be caused by the crank seal as there wasn't a lot of oil on it? There was however still some grooves in the clutch so a strange one to call? So if the crank seal is leaking again will it cause any damage leaving it as I don't appear to be loosing any oil at all? Or if so very slightly.

As for the seals I'll have a look tomorrow, i did notice there was some oil at the drivers side also(near the actuator area of the engine as I was changing that) so ium unsure where its from? I thought the gearbox bit would be seperate but may not be. Looking at the rocker cover it doesn't seem to be leaking from the gape between that and the head :/ it seems to be lower but above the block.

 

[Texx]

It could be leaking from the distributor then, best thing is to clean it all up first as engine oil seems to always find its way far from the source of the leak.

I wouldn't be too concerned with the rear seal leaking, if it's not pissing out just keep an eye on the oil level and you should be OK.

 

[A L 3 X]

Ah cool, i had a look at the area today....the oil seemed to have leaked down from the engine side of the sandwich plate rather than the box side ference?

Also looking around the sump there was some occasional misting around the top where it joins on but no drips like near the box, i cleaned the area off on the sandwich plate and ran the engine, not that any more oil dripped down? I even unbolted the bottom end of the sandwich plate and levered it away and there didnt seem to be any leaking d that side.
It therefor doesn't seem to be leaking massively.

I then bolted the plate back down, i had a look at the dizzy but couldn:t see anything there, but it was dark by this point.

Im gonna take it down the garage next week and see if they can spot anything, and will probably reseal the sump next oil change