after rebuilding my 1.7 last month I have a rather stubborn oil leak at the rear of the engine: the engine mount crossmember and the right side rubber mount is constantly soaked and dripping,and the little rubber bellows for the dipstick between the fan housing and the filler elbow (its a wagon). Also the sump plate, that cover with two securing bolts is leaking despite a fresh seal and proper torque. oil seems to be coming op the dipstick tube because when I pull it to check the level its coated almost its entire length. Its been suggested that I have too much crankcase pressure, so I checked the breather box, its hose to the intake, and the vent hoses to the heads and all seem fine; new, even. Are vented valve covers necessary or effective? I must have fouled something up, its never had this kind of problem before. Any other ideas? I cant think of any other suspects.
Also: the fan hub area is dry, so Im assuming the rear seal is OK, as its near impossible to look at it with engine installed, I can only feel around while fumbling the mirror. I did not split the case either. any thoughts?
oil leaks
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ray greenwood
- Posts: 1941
- Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2001 12:01 am
oil leaks
A couple. You will have to get avery gright light and lie under the car and look between the oil pump and the hanger bar. You can see the seal area from there. Also from the left side just under the oil cooler...you can see the seal. There is a very good chance it is leaking...only at high speed. If so, it washes everything clean around it...and is hard to detect...cause it looks so clean. In the top of you oil breather tower...since yours is a square back, it has no integral funnel, you may find either a little mushroom thing...which is a baffel...which can get plugged internally, or you may find one inside with a little spring loaded PCV valve. That can be messed up. You may also find that you are actually leaking at a pushrod tube seal or a cylinder base and blowing the oil backward with cooling air. Ray
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herr_sparky
- Posts: 145
- Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2001 1:01 am
oil leaks
Pushrods tube seals appear clean and dry. The beather box, held on with a small bail wire, has a half-inch heater hose connecting it to the intake distributor through a rubbery elbow at either end, and I cannot find any spring loaded valves. The hose itself is some Napa/Schucks cheapo variety, should I find the braided-over type? Also, one of the main peices of evidence that I may have forgotten to mention is the flow of oil up the dipstick tube, clear up to the cap itself.
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ray greenwood
- Posts: 1941
- Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2001 12:01 am
oil leaks
Good call bulley. Ok...the PCV hoses (depending on the heads) run from the air cleaner...to the flame trap mounted by the thermostat spring on the cooling fan housing...where it splits...and goes to each head. So...clean air from the air cleaner is being pulled through the heads...up through the crankcase...and out the breather tower through the tube with the elbow on it that goes to the center manifold. You did see a spring loadfed PCV...you just do not know it. Unless this is a wagon? If its not a wagon...and has the built in funnel/oil cap...the little stub tube that the rubber elbow is clamped onto IS the PCV valve. If it has a little knurled platic ring around the tube...underneath the elbow...that ring is a tubular nut holding the PCV valve into the oil tower. It is accessed underneath by removing a plug in the sheet metal tower..after taking the oil tower loose. If its a wagon...without the funnel...you just have a metal nipple for the manifold hose to go onto. Some models had a little mushroom shaped thing on the tower in place of the funnel. This is an oil breather vent. It can get clogged up inside. Either way, you either have no PCV venting...or your oil level may be excessivly high...or you just have an extreme amount of blow-by. Also check that no-one has put a restriction inside of the hose . Ray