oil leak arrrrgh!!
Turbo Mini Forums

im at my wits end. after replacing gearbox this weekend went out for a drive on sunday came back oil dripping out of the little hole in the flywheel housing. even though everything were new. so i took off the clutch flywheel etc and the tranfer case(which were a real bastard) replaced transfer case gasket(thought it may have been leaking through the little dowel. replaced the crank seal as well. went out tonite come home and guess what oil dripping again. the crankseal were a tight fit on the gear/shaft thing. where as my original one was slack!

any ideas?

no longer a series, but still 1.3 turbo.

oil left over from the original leak ?

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM

Primary Gear? They can cause a leak cant then?

Manchester Minis

pretty sure its not left over oil im gonna give it another run now i cleaned it all out tho.

primary gear, well its not old and i dont think oil were leaking from here before.

no longer a series, but still 1.3 turbo.

you may have nicked the seal if you did not tape up the primary gear splines for the clutch when fitting the cover on this is where most peeps go wrong

if not and you did this ................................

i suspect the main bearings are goosed!

ths springs to mind

whats the oil pressure like carl

yeah mains and distorting the seal. or the seal isnt fitted square?

or you have a lot of crankcase pressure?

pretty sure the seal isnt nicked i fitted the seal to the primary gear first then fitted them as a pair so no chance (i dont think) that i could have damaged it.

the oil presures fine. how could knackered bearings cause oil to leak out of the rear main area?

no longer a series, but still 1.3 turbo.

like i said, if the bearings arent running true they wont run correctly in the seal either, distorting it and causing a leak. dont think its likely though.

as the crank will flex up and down with the goosed main bearing on the clutch side

and oil puthers out as its sort..... of oval

as your oil pressures fine, then the bearings may well be ok ..?

but........ check the movement on the end of the crank with a pipe as a lever to rule the above out

its the seal or the crank or primary gear

the bush may be goosed in the primary gear causing the same as the crank bearings

go over your work again carl look very carefully

good luck

keep us informed

Edited by BENROSS on 11th Jul, 2006.

oh! as iain says go for the crank case breathers first!

cheers for you advise. ill have another look tomorrow night.

no longer a series, but still 1.3 turbo.

yeah the breathers can be a pain, ive had an awfull oil leak for ages that i couldn't stop and it turned out to be blocked breathers, i cut the top off the clutch side one and fitted a filter straight to the top and its all fine now touch wood. got to be worth a look.
edit: i would have replaced the breather but i didnt have one to hand so it had to have the chop!
steve

Edited by hippyinamini on 11th Jul, 2006.

doh! why did i start messing with it!

check the gear on the end of the crank for movement, it doenst matte how good your mains are or how good the seal is if the oil is getting between primary gear and crank. I have seen a goosed (from new) primary gear in less than a thousand miles before.

Check it by putting the gear on the crank and checking for movement on the crank at the front and back of the gear. Anything but slight movement 5 thou or so and its probably going to be this.

I've seen the future and tbh its Pie

your mains cant be that bad can they? isnt the engine fresh? plus it wasnt doing it a retro cars

how does the orange seal look? just wondering if the springy metal clip inside is ok

hmm or it wasnt doing it with the old case, are the gear case and block lining up ok?
-all the dowels ok, nothing has broken through has it?

are you using a gasket sealer on it?

i dont know really im sure youve checked over it, just incase the obvious has been missed

I'd double check the breathers situation, make sure that the turbo isn't pressurising the crankcase somehow as well.

Have you seen the price of primary gear thrusts

MED cam through for me with a used one, and in express time on royal mail first class. Everyone else wanted at least a tenner and couldn't gaurantee for saturday. Top marks to MED on this one.

4 to 6 though is the tollerence by the way

i recon its either badly worn primary gear bush or the oil drain holes in the primary gear are blocked ( very common) as said blocked breathers (mine were blocked so removed them cheep breather filters and she is fine now).

always looking for them bigger bunches of bannanas

right i seem to have sorted it!

1. checked breathers all nice and clear
2. checked for back pressure all ok
3. found some dye in work you put in oil which makes it illuminous when you look at it with uv light.
4. after running it withthe dye in removed flywheel and you could clearly see the oil inbetween the gear and seal pissing out!
5. removed gear and seal both perfect.
6. clecked gear fittment and movement in crank all ok
7. so i fitted a new seal of a different design from another supplier and its been fine.

i know for a fact that the other seal were fitted properly so either a bad batch of seals? or the seal and primary gear ive got dont like each other, anyway its sorted.

Edited by Carl on 14th Jul, 2006.

no longer a series, but still 1.3 turbo.