• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Leaky BT7 Overdrive

Share this page

MadRiver

MadRiver

Jedi Knight
Bronze
Country flag
Offline
Howdy all!

I'm still thinking about the '59 BT7 that I've found. The car, I'm told, has a leaky overdrive. I drove the car, and the OD works fine, but the guy who is storing the car for the owner says that it leaks enough that after a while, the OD stops working, but if you fill it up again, it works fine.

Having never pulled the OD out of a Big Healey, how big of a job is it, how annoying a job is it, and is this a red flag for a car I plan on simply driving and enjoying (rather than restoring).
 
Bill,
You can change the o-rings, the gaskets, and the seal at the rear end without taking the OD out of the car (at least I did with a BN-2). There is a tool that works kind of like a giant "easy-out" that allows you to pull the seal and a new one can be tapped in. Can you determine where it is leaking from? The o-rings and gaskets are much easier than the rear seal to change. The first thing to do would be to put a wrench on all the case nuts and be sure everything is snug. Then do the gaskets on the two cover plates ( put Hylomar on the paper gaskets), then the o-rings on the operating valve shaft, then the rear seal. If after you've done all that the case gaskets would be the problem. I'll bet that is not where the oil is getting out in such quantity. Some folks pull the od out by itself, it can be done. Search the archives for the notes about doing this. If everything works, the price is right, and you like the car, the leaky od isn't such a huge item in my opinion. I might even be persuaded to loan out the seal tool I have. It is a tough one to find. You will also find some great tech articles if you do some web searching.

Jon R.
 
Nothing against the idea of fixing it, but I would certainly not stay away from the car because of that problem, the problem is really more of a nuisance than anything else, and if needed the fix can be put on the back burner until time and or resources allow.

The box is easy to top up as needed and as long as you don't let it run dry it will be fine.
 
Back
Top