The last leak?

My garage says - it's a 30 year old car, it's normal. But I'm determined.

So having fixed the dizzy o-ring leak, oil filler cap leak, cam cover gasket leak, gearbox selector shaft leak...

it's still leaking. It's the nice new clean oil show it should be easy to see - except it is not.. It's not near the alternator. About two teaspoons when driven drips from tyhe sump plug.

Appears toi be from above the sump gasket.

Only other place I can think of is pulley end camshaft seal as I've not taken the cambelt cover off yet.

Anywhere else I should look?

Check your breathers are working properly. Any crankcase pressure is gonna cause leaking. The earlier engines, as in earlier than around 1996, are pretty bad. A relief pipe from the cam cover is essential in my opinion in addition to the one on the crankcase.

Also ensure the pipework is clear as it can get blocked with a thick mixture of oil and moisture.

Knowing the crankcase is well ventilated, then you can wash the engine, dust with powder, take for a drive and search for leaks.

I get on fine with silicone for the sump, never had one leak.

Thanks Mikey.

Checked the breather and hoses. I have a catch can and it collects thin oily fluid so it must be working?

I have wondered about fitting one of these http://www.carid.com/universal-air-filters/kn-accessories-336593.html

or plumbing merchant brass equivalent to bottom of my K&N pancake filter so intake suction takes the blow-by gasses like it was designed to.

How wash the engine?

Haynes says don't steam clean. Driveway Gunk fluid and kitchen towel meant I could wipe some of the 29 years oily residue away.

i jet wash my cars engines all the time...no probs as long as you bag up the dizzy /elec bits

can also use carb cleaner /brake cleaner to blast areas clean ..then drive a bit and check it and so on

in a ideal wolrd you dont want the engine breathing oily fumes..its a emmisions thing not for the good of the engine( reduces octane rating n all sorts)

Edited 12 October, 201312 yr by steveo3002

Seems Gunk's engine degreaser spray is much stronger than Gunk Driveway cleaner.

Used that spray, a long radiator paint brush to agitate in some of the corners, a hosepipe and then a rain shower to rinse the engine. Just last week I had applied a load of Holts plastic coating damp start spray to dizzy coil and ignition leads.

Restarted though completely soaked which was impressive.

All dry and clean behind the cam belt cover so not the camshaft gasket... though while wiping I found a cambelt tooth. None missing from the belt so must be ancient fossil.

Plastic baggging and jet wash lance sounds good. Before I lowered the car I once used an ARO automatic car wash and had to push it out of the exit after the blow dryer stage. Eventually started on the forecourt and then died a mile away. Only wash by hand now.

If I put my hand near the breather hose I can feel it puffing with engine idling! There was a bit of mayo in the breather filter which perhaps impeded flow a bit. Don't want to put the blow-by gasses back in to be combusted - but don't want an oil leak.

Need it to stop raining or I'll be baking naan breads on the engine with a coat of flour.

Edited 12 October, 201312 yr by dvderlm

A couple of points:

I once cracked an exhaust down pipe on a mk 2 by using the jetwash at the garage without letting the engine cool down.

I also used to use damp-start spray until I found that repeated coats tended to 'craze', this held more moisture than ever, so I then got into the habit of using car wax (polish) on the ignition parts and never looked back - this just repels the moisture without locking it in.

Regards.

Everybody learns from their mistakes.

Nice tip with the polish!

I think I've found the last "oil" leak... it's petrol.

A cloth braided line from the pump. A jubilee clip was ever so slightly loose.

The petrol would get past the clip (when under pressure) and run along the cloth, mostly evaporate,

but some would drip on inlet manifold and flow to lowest point - the sump plug.

I suppose the leak started when I changed my carb and swirl pot to have no return flow to tank

to stop starvation. Only in the short period before self-regulating pump turns off.

Combined with oil from the cam cover gasket it was invisible. So little it didn't smell of fuel!