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Common engine oil leaks

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M

MarkA

Jedi Trainee
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Hello All,

In my effort to keep more of my engine oil inside of the engine (versus outside and on the garage floor), I am trying to seal up various areas. If I could "harvest" all of the oil my BJ8 leaks, I could power a 3rd world country for a year! Some of the oil leaks are hard to locate since the right side of the engine is so coated in oil and the rear in sludge. I am looking to all of your experiences on the normal leak areas.

The majority of the oil is "coating" the right rear of the block. The left side of the block is very dry. It is hard to tell what is leak and what is being blown around or wicking. I don't see any "runs". It is almost like the block is sweating oil! It appears that the rear tappet cover and the generator stand are leaking. A lot of the oil is comming from high on the block, like at the cylinder head gasket area. But I don't think it is the cylinder head gasket. It might just be the tapet covers wicking/blowing up a little. It looks like the rear (or maybe right rear) of the valve cover is leaking badly, even after replacing that gasket last year. At the middle of the right side, the oil starts at, or about, the cylinder head gasket line.

At the present, I cannot run the engine to do any more investigation after cleaning. I have the trans out to change the front and rear seals and to put a seal kit on the engine's rear main. I want to try to hit the more obvious leaks and then watch what happens.

So, where are the common areas for major leaks that I should re-seal or look at more closely?

Thanks,
Mark
 
Hi Mark,

If you rocker shaft is worn you may be dumping a lot of oil up top that will find its way out of the valve cover. The way to check that is, once you can run the engine again, remove the valve cover and start the engine. Should see slight dripping alone the shaft, not geysers.
 
The tappet covers, including the front one which doubles as the generator mount leaked on mine. I used a gasket sealer from Eastwood that's proved effective over time. My distributor assembly still drips even after new gaskets and an internal o ring but just a drop from time to time. My oil filter canister leaked a little until I went to a spin on type. In fact pretty much every joint and bolt that goes through the block to the oil side wicks small amounts of oil. Usually, a pretty good leak will be cleaner at the point of leakage. My most recent leak was the bottom of the chaincase where oil was wicking out from under one of the bolt heads. Thought it was the front seal. Whew.
 
My experience with lots of oil on the right side of the engine is the same as yours. My BJ8 is low mileage, having been stored for almost 30 years. The valve cover gasket did not leak but there appears to be considerable seepage around the tappet covers and the oil filter head.

I plan to pull the engine, clean it off and replace the filter head, tappet and valve cover gaskets and any seals. Unfortunately, neither Moss nor Vicky Brit say what they use for their gaskets. If they use fiber or cork, it seems to me they will wick oil and/or continue to leak when replaced.

Modern cars use neoprene and a variety of other such materials for their gaskets. My question to the forum is whether A-H gaskets are available in those materials and from whom.

I would be grateful for any recommendations
 
I have a gasket kit from Payen which is said to be upgraded. I don't really know what upgraded means. Also, the center tappet cover comes in a type of rubber now which I ordered separately.

I plan on changing the tappet cover gaskets, the generator gasket, the timing chain gasket and seal, the oil pan gasket, the valve cover gasket, the crankcase vent hoses, and put a seal kit on the rear main. If that doesn't clean up the oil, then the next step will be to change the head gasket...

Mark
 
Sounds like there are some good improvements in newer gasket kits. I recommend a high temp/oil resistant gasket sealant anyway. The tappet covers are pressed steel with a copper gasket under the center bolt. This design offers different expansion rates between seal surfaces and no means to accomodate gasket crush or deformaton over time. Same goes for the timing case cover and oil pan. Be careful with the rear seal kit. The seal around the shaft is fine but it takes some care to avoid a leak around the aluminum adapter ring at the bottom cork inserts. FYI, the highly rated hylomar sealant just didn't hold up after I rebuilt my transmission.
 
There is a common seeping at the head gasket on the right side. You may want to check the head torque but probably will get nowhere unless you replace the head gasket and even then it will leak. If it is minimal and you have no oil in the radiator, and the compression is good and even, I'd just live with it. Its a Healey.
TH
 
The answer to your question is yes.

Engine oil leaks on a Healey are common.
 
The coolant is clean and compression is good. For the amount of oil that leaks, if it is the head gasket, then it must be a pressure leak. Where along the lenght of the head is the oil passage located for the oil pipe that feeds the rockers? I expect some oil leakage out of the engine, but what I have right now is excessive, even by LBC standards! :smile:

Mark
 
Mark -

The tappet covers on the side of the motor are notorious for leaking oil - they only have one bolt in the centre holding these plates on... that's where the oil is coming from. Taking the covers off is easy (except the gen bracket), so remove them, cover the cork in hylomar or some other gasket stuff, and bolt it back up. That should help.

I'd also consider putting on a PCV valve on the car, to keep the crankcase pressure down and that will do more than all the sealing in the world to cut down on leaks. Norman Nock has a PCV kit you can buy... it's cheap and easy to install.

Cheers!
 
Another place to look is where the rocker pedestal studs go through the head right above the spark plug holes. Pulling the studs and putting sealant on the threads will fix it. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/hammer.gif
 
Hi Alan,

............... I edited out the whole update as I was completely wrong in my assumption. What was I thinking about that day ! .........................


Thanks,
Ed
 
Alan,
I was going to change the tappet cover gaskets a while ago. I ordered the parts and went to change them. The covers were stuck and not coming off! So I decided not to change them then. But now, there has to be leaking from them. They are just too wet. I noticed that the center cover now comes in rubber. Have you tried the rubber or just stuck with cork?

John,
I had seen the subject of the studs previously and checked that area. There is no oil coming from the studs. The area around the plugs is dry.

I think at this point, as I clean and inspect more, that it is a combination of a lot of leaks on the right side. The valve cover in the rear, the tappet covers, the oil pressure relief valve plug, the pan, the timing cover and seal, and the rear of the crank. This weekend will be interesting!

Thanks for you suggestions,
Mark
 
Ed_K said:
Hi Alan,

Help me understand;
I have vacuum servo assisted power brakes with a one way valve attached to my valve cover. The inside of the valve cover is providing a vacuum. The other end of the same hose goes down to ventilate the crank case. That means the same vacuum that is powering my brake servo is also drawing smoke/fumes from inside of the crank case. Why would I need a one way valve on the line going down to ventilate the crank case ? Is there a time when the crank case is at a lower pressure than under the valve cover and thus a one way valve might be desirable ?
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/confused.gif
Thanks,
Ed
Click to expand...

Ed -

If I understand you correctly, you have all of these hoses hooked up wrong. The crankase ventilator should never be hooked up to the servo circuit or the intake manifold... this is very very bad.


The hoses should be hooked up in two independent hose circuits as follows:

1) Servo brake line vacuum hose:

[SERVO]----vacuum hose---->[Intake Manifold]
(you should put an optional check valve inbetween, but not critical)


2) Crankcase ventilation circuit:

[Crankcase outlet on rear tappet cover]----pipe/hose---->[T-breather on valve cover]----hose---->[rear carburettor air filter]

Hope that helps.

Alan
 
Mark -

The rubber should be a big improvment, but if you have a good cork gasket just use a good gasket sealer with it (Hylomar is preferred by most, but I've used Permatex Ultra Copper Silicone with good results here too).

Alan
 
One area of leakage that was not mentioned: The cap for the valve cover. I noted that mine seemed to drip out a few drops which ran down the block and covered everything as the wind blew it towards the back of the car. I added a rubber gasket to the cap and no more leak. Yes I have rebuilt the rockers so I don't know why it was blowing through the cap. Right now, I have almost no leaks from the car. I am pretty happy and not going to touch anything!
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]I am pretty happy and not going to touch anything!
[/QUOTE]Except wood
 
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