Oil Tight X Flow

[Edward Guest]

I appear to have a slight oil leak from the oil pump, the engine is dry sumped so the pump is more complex than standard.(2 stage?)

 

There do not appear to be any gaskets, is this normal?

 

If it should be assembled without gaskets is there some jointing compound that is recommneded or does it depend on perfectly flat steel surfaces to make the seals.

 

Help very much appreciated since I am tired of wiping oil off the garage floor

 

Thanks

 

Eddie

C7 ECG

[Roger King]

Assuming that you have the Caterham type pump it is normal for there to be no gaskets.

 

There are four leakage points generally:-

 

1)Caterham pumps usually have a facility to drive a mechanical tacho gearbox (something of an anachronism these days). This is covered with a thin aluminium plate. Oil often leaks out from between this plate and the body of the pump. Solution is to make a new plate in 5mm (or thereabouts) aluminium. This is easily done and the result is much more rigid. Fitting this with silicone sealant should stop leaks here. Note that there is also an oil seal under the plate. This often leaks too and may be worth replacing, although the new cover plate should stop the oil anyway.

 

2)Between the various segments of the oil pump body. Solution is to dismantle the pump, clean and degrease thoroughly and then reassemble with a modern anaerobic sealant in place of the original Wellseal. Do not do this unless you are sure of your competence.

 

3)From the pressure relief valve screw. This sticks out from the oil pump end cover. It is a 1/4"UNF thread and has one or sometimes two locknuts on it. Oil gets up the thread and out past the locknut. Solution is to remove locknut(s), degrease and reassemble with a little silicone sealant on the thread and under the locknut. Make sure that you do not alter the position of the screw or your oil pressure will change.

 

4)From the oil unions. It sometimes leaks out from between the male and female half of a union!!!! All you can do here is to make sure that everything is in good condition. Ultimately you can change your entire oil system to JIC unions and hoses.

[Edward Guest]

Thanks for the swift reply, but what is an anaerobic sealant - any recomendations?

[John E]

One that seals in the absence of air. Sorry i cant tell you which one but suggest that you look at the Loctite and Hermetite web sites or ring RK directly. He's always willing to chat and will certainly point towards the correct stuff.