Help - dry sump oil "weep"

[AndrewD]

I've noticed that I appear to have a small leak which seems to be coming from where the sump pan meets the vertical "bulkhead" of the bellhousing. Possible thought that some of the hex head screws have come loose but I have yet to acquire the right size tools to check/tighten.

 

Before I go and do this, only to find it isn't the problem at all, has anybody else experienced this? Is it "common" or "known", perhaps some sort of oil seal failing instead.

 

It is not loosing very much, hardly any at all, but there is definately a small amount of oil on the garage floor where before it was dry.

 

Thanks for any help!

Andrew

Yellow SLR T777 XXX

[Rob Walker]

Andrew,

 

This seems a common problem, my car does it and I haven`t got to the bottom of it. The weep is so small I have decided to live with it but keep an eye on it untill the winter. The leak could be a porous belltank or sump pan, defective seal between the sump pan and block or more worrying the rear crank shaft oil seal is defective or has moved. Another theory is that running with the engine sealed the vacuum created distorts the rear crank oil seal when the engine is shut down and the vacuum remains for several minutes after the oil pressure which supported the oil seal has been lost, I suspect the latter. You can remove the sump pan and this gives you a restricted view inside the bellhousing but its not possible to see clearly if the crank oil seal has moved. If you sort the problem let me know.

 

Rob

[V7 SLR]

In 16000 miles I don't appear to have suffered with this, however PC has convinced me that running the dry sump sealed doesn't make sense and apart from potentially preventing the mode of failure Rob indicates above, you may gain additional head drainage by installing a suitable one-way valve (is there any other?) in place of one of your cam cover plugs. I'm going to investigate this during my next upgrade phase.

 

Worcs L7 club joint AO

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[John Howe]

For want of a one way valve I've run a pipe from the cam covers and "T'd" this into the spew pipe into the dump tank.

 

JH

 

 

 

 

[V7 SLR]

I could be wrong, but I thought the idea was allow air in, and to prevent air out. If the head could build up pressure then it would have a negative effect on head-oil drainage if you released that pressure from the cam cover.

 

Again, I could be wrong.

 

Worcs L7 club joint AO

Membership No.id=red> 4379id=green>

Azure Blue SLR No. 0077id=blue>

 

[Rob Walker]

Its also worth knowing that Rover now advise that the rear crank seal be installed with a smear of a special black silicon sealant this ensures a better seal with the block and holds the seal in place. Obviously there has been a problem and hence this extra proceedure. Shame this advice was not contained in either my Rover Manual or the Haynes book of lies.

 

Rob.