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More oil leaking...rear seal?

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F1LOCO

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So, I just got it back from the shop to put a baffle in the rocker so I don't get blow out through the breather cap, new rocker gasket, shocks, etc. Get it back and rocker leaking. I pull it today, clean it, Hylomar on the gasket to cover, and grease b/w cork gasket and head (though I ordered a silicone one last night). No leaks up top now, yay - BUT - the bottom continues to leak worse than before? Shop was to pull the pan and reinstall the same with a good felt gasket, not cork. Cleaned it all up, fired it up and within a minute, where the pan abutts the cover plate on the bell housing, oil poureth. What are the chances they simply botched the pan gasket vs. a more discerning thought - the rear seal? I wouldn't think replacing the crappy cork gasket the PO overtightened would result in a bigger oil leak than before.

Bolt seems snug then I was able to give them all just a tug. Unless they simply botched the job and didn't prep it right, my thoughts are rear seal now. Brother. Any idea what it should cause to replace? From looking at the manual the tranny and probably the crank need to be pulled. This is going to get expensive fast...


Also, the pulled and repaired the radiator - neck was leaking and they allegedly rodded it out. Now I am constantly in the solid white broaching 85-90C. ? Any thoughts or suggestions. They installed an electric fan up front, but I haven't been able to get it to kick on. Noticed the black going to ground, but the car is a positive ground?? Seriously? In any event, it's hotter now than before and allegedly has been repaired? Would the fan in front reduce that much blow out from the fan on the crank? Would you want the fan to blow in or pull out if it's in the front? Seems like you'd want to push more cold air into the radiator? Never ends...
 
Always helps to mention which car you are working on; they aren't all the same and some of us can't keep track of who has what.

From your story, I'm going to theorize that you actually need new rings possibly plus liners. It sure sounds like you have so much blow-by that pressure is building up in the crankcase. Do you have the road draft tube, or is this a later TR4 with the plug?

Sorry, the crank has to come out to install any of the rear seals, including the new Viton variant from TRF. Which pretty much means the engine needs to come out of the car. If that isn't reasonable just now, you might want to consider converting back to the early "road draft" system, which was much more tolerant of blow-by.

I have had the same experience with mounting electric fans in front of the radiator; they seem to block the natural air flow when the fan is not running. Behind the radiator works much better, IMO (which requires removing the original mechanical fan and relying on the electric, the setup I'm using on my TR3).

If you used a typical 'fixed' fan thermostat, then it probably won't come on until past 100C. Typical seems to be around 105C although certainly there is some variation. There are a few exceptions, but the best solution seems to be to use one of the adjustable thermostats.

Yes, the fan in front should definitely push into the radiator, so it cooperates with both the mechanical fan, and with the natural air flow at speed. But having the black wire to (positive) ground doesn't necessarily mean it is blowing the wrong way, you really need to get it running (by shorting across the thermostat if necessary) and check the airflow. Some fans also need the blades turned front to back (which obviously does not change direction of air flow, but the blades are optimized to work better in one direction).
 
Well good news...ran a compression test b/f I got crazy:

Hot and dry:
1 - 150
2 - 150
3 - 149
4 - 150

Hot and wet:
1 - 151
2 - 150
3 - 149
4 - 150

So, from what I gather that looks good, no?

So, I had an idea, since we installed the baffle on the last rocker below the breather, I decided to run it w/o the breather cap since I knew oil wouldn't go all over. I went from 6-8" of oil slick to a few drops resulting in a 2-3" oil slick. So, it's definitely pressure.

Have the vent tube to install but wanted to know if I ran a L fitting to the nut on the rocker to the nut on the intake valve, would that be better as it would create a vacuum to suck some of that pressure away vs. passively pulling it out?

Rocker.jpg
 
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