Oil problem

DeathBus · Post by **DeathBus** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 7:23 pm

I asked this same question in the Type 4 room a while back but I will ask it here also.

Symtom:

A Type 4 engine. After running the engine for awhile at high RPMs (4k) in 4th gear on the interstate a large amount of oil pools on TOP of the engine mainly on the #3/4 side. (it's in a bus) on the back wall it looks as if the oil might have sprayed because there are large droplets of oil. There is also what appears to be droplets on the ignition wires and the distributor cap.

What I have done:

I pulled the shroud (nice to be able to do that in a bus) took the oil cooler off and resealed it replaced the oil pressure switch and replaced the boot (well not the actual boot, but a spark plug boot, it works!) put the shroud back on, still the same thing. I have replaced the distributor o ring before, could it be pinched and causing this, or am I missing something else?

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 8:08 pm

What type of ail breather does the engine have? The funnel type ? or the non-funnel type? Also, wht is the condition of the front main seal? Is there oil in side of the fan-shroud? Check the cork gasket on the bottom of the breather. Ray

DeathBus · Post by **DeathBus** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 8:40 pm

raygreenwood wrote:What type of ail breather does the engine have? The funnel type ? or the non-funnel type? Also, wht is the condition of the front main seal? Is there oil in side of the fan-shroud? Check the cork gasket on the bottom of the breather. Ray

non funnel, it breaths to a weber progressive

Front main seal is fine, no seapage its all mainly on the cooler side. No oil in the shroud, I have suspected the cork gasket, but it is an awful lot of oil to be coming from the breather stack.

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 5:35 am

I would find it rare that its the distributor seal. What side of the carb..and the engine...is the breather hose connected? How does the inside of the air cleaner look? Ray

DeathBus · Post by **DeathBus** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 7:24 am

raygreenwood wrote:I would find it rare that its the distributor seal. What side of the carb..and the engine...is the breather hose connected? How does the inside of the air cleaner look? Ray

The breather hose is connected on the 1/2 side and it is connected, the air cleaner looks good. Like i say, it is large pools of oil sitting on top of the engine on the 3/4 side. Would a breather push that much oil out? I go through about 1/2 quart every 50 or so miles.

When I had the shroud off I looked at the cylinders and they were perfectly clean, no oil or funk. I wouldnt suspect an oil galley plug since all the oil is on top of the engine. The through bolts are all inside the cylinder cooling area and I would think there would be oil all over my cylinders (also if the oil galley plugs were leaking), and this is not the case. The only leak I have under the engine is from 2 pesky push rod tubes driping a small amount. The oil cooler was not wet with oil when I had it off.

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 11:13 am

This can also be caused by a flywheel seal leaking at high rpm and pushing the oil out through the hole in the left bell housing....the one where the torque converter bolts are usually accessed. Ray

DeathBus · Post by **DeathBus** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 11:23 am

I have thought about that one also, but wouldn't it also be dripping between the tranny and the engine block?

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 4:40 pm

Not necessarily. I had this problem once. Two things can cause that type of flywheel seal leak....only at high rpm...like 60 mph. (1) a rough spot on the flywheel seal area...and a little too much end play...or a flywheel that is just out of spec. (2) Some 412's used a deeper seal recess on the crank. They ued the vanagon flywheel seal from the factory. Not knowing that, I installed a regular type 4 seal. It seated about 1.5mm deeper...letting the lips of the seal slide down the shank on the flywheel. Now...it sealed...until oil pressure got high along with temperature....like highway speed.
While driving, the flywheel whips this stuff around letting nothing leak out the bottom....until you stop. Then...its like 10 seconds and the car takes a 1 pint dump. Scared the hell out of me. But, one day I left the black plug out of the access hole up above....and it pumped oil all over the left side of th engine.....and nothing out the bottom. AND....what seeped into the cooling system blew back onto the pushrod tubes. It appeared to be a PR tube leak that I just couldn't fix. Something to look into. Ray

DeathBus · Post by **DeathBus** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 4:53 pm

Well I went out and checked again. I did have a cone shape breather. I took it off and found the gasket was crap. I dont remember if I replaced it or not when I rebuilt the engine, but I cant find the seal in my spare gasket box. Well some of the gasket was blown out. So I replaced the breather with one from my other van, which is down right now for a much needed resto. This breather is the older non cone type breather. I didnt have a new gasket so I coated the sealing surface with permatex. Drove it about 30 miles down the interstate. Checked the engine compartment and there was still the drips and pools of oil. Came home and sealed up the bell housing hole, cleaned up the engine, ran it and got the drips and pools again. I am going by my vw parts place tomorrow and getting a dist o ring, I cant think what else it could be, the cooler maybe?

DeathBus · Post by **DeathBus** » Sun May 02, 2004 3:40 pm

SOLVED... Turned out to be the breather stack gasket. got one yesterday and put it on, VIOLA, no oil spray, I never thought that much oil would come out of the breather!

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Sun May 02, 2004 11:43 pm

Kinda lets you know exactly how well the baffel works. Its rareto see much oil at all get past it. Ray