need help for my bug

strat62 · Post by **strat62** » Sun Nov 26, 2000 7:50 am

I have a '61 bug w/a '65 stock engine. This was running good till one day I got in a precarious situation. I was on a trail that I noticed ahead was washed out. After several attempts of backing out I had to procede and go thru this wash out. It was scary but I got thru without tipping over. After trying several options unsuccessfully,I started back up this washout. It was very rocky and at an uphill grade. After around a half hour I finally got thru,but when I got to the top I stopped to check my bug out and noted a oil leak by where the tranny and engine connect and now the engine will not idle at all. I was told it was the oil cooler,but I just replaced it,so is there a seal or something that goes in where the clutch is? I had installed a new pic 34 last year,could it be bad already? Were they ever good? Thanks for any help.
Mike

uglybug · Post by **uglybug** » Sat Dec 02, 2000 3:52 pm

Is the oil engine oil or tranny oil? The engine has an oil seal where it connects with the tranny, if that went bad it could start leaking engine oil from where you described. It would also most likely destroy your clutch disk.

steve stromberg · Post by **steve stromberg** » Mon Dec 04, 2000 9:28 am

Feel the stuff, gear lube is kinda sticky and thick,motor oil is slippery and thin. Clean off bottom of engine ,use a spray bottle of citus solution full strenght and hot water.once it is clean the oil will leave a trail from the leak you can trace. Steve

uglybug · Post by **uglybug** » Mon Dec 04, 2000 2:55 pm

Tranny oil also has a blue tinge to it. Motor oil is usually black.

Fweemer · Post by **Fweemer** » Mon Dec 04, 2000 10:02 pm

Dude give us some more hints. Is your clutch slipping? You said it was after a climb on a steep grade. Now could this be the cause? Could your engine have been tilted at such an angle that the oil could spill out? Most likely to happen if you keep your oil level up. Do you think your oil level was way up before it happened?

Fweemer-

77'Bug-Lauser

strat62 · Post by **strat62** » Thu Dec 07, 2000 5:55 am

It's engine oil,and it seems to come out pretty fast,about a quart a day,leaving puddles when I park,and I know they just mark their territory but this is a little too much marking
I guess what I left out was being as rocky as it was ,there were rocks banging and scraping everywhere.
I haven't felt any slipping in the clutch,which is weird. I really do not know whats going on,as it starts fine after setting the choke,but as it warms up,it dies and will not idle on it's own.

bartman · Post by **bartman** » Thu Dec 07, 2000 6:53 pm

have you looked at your pushrod tubes?

Y3K · Post by **Y3K** » Sat Dec 09, 2000 2:20 am

For some time I noticed oil drops on the bottom left tinware. Assumed it was either the oil cooler or a pushrod tube. When I took the air shroud off to do something else, I checked the oil cooler. Dry as a bone. So it had to be a pushrod tube. That meant Engine out, at some stage. Then one day there was this huge puddle of oil on the left side. When I jacked the car up and took off the left rear wheel, I found that it was the swing axle boot that was completely perished. The local VW agent had them at US$7 each. So I bought 6. Enough I hope for the rest of my life.

Kobus

Voice · Post by **Voice** » Thu May 09, 2002 3:37 pm

Boy, I'm digging deep now!
I've been reading the ENTIRE forum, since I'm new here and I love this stuff and I found this old post. I'm sure the original guy has already solved his problem but I wanted to add my 2cents since I just dealt with a very similar issue and wanted to share my experience, which was not good!

I purchased a MANX with a supposidly rebuilt singleport 1600.
It seemed to run pretty good but had a clogged fuel line so I was unable to let it run for any lengh.
Once I got the fuel line fixed I took it out for a quick spin. Was running great, except it wouldn't idle even if I turned the idle screw up. Well, I just figured I needed to clean the carb or something simple like that so I continued on my little test ride.
Finally, the car pulled up to a light and died. It wouldn't turn over at all. Sure enough, engine seize!!!

I had the same oil leak as the original poster. Oil comming from in between the tranny and engine. Very bad.
Of course, my engine was seized so I couldn't just "let it go" and try to figure it out, I had to tear it down. What I found was that the rear main bering had seized on the crank. The endplay was not set correctly, possibly, but for whatever reason that rear main was gone.
That's why it wouldn't idle. The berring was binding on the crank. It also didn't seal which caused the quart of oil every day.

So, lesson learned.

Voice