dleopard

Just finished a T-belt / WP / Cooling and Steering Hoses / All belts/motor mounts / tune-up.

Before I started, she didn't leave any "love-marks" on the garage floor, but the Power Steering was leaking onto the alternator which spun that all over!

She sat waiting for me to be home long enough to do the work- about 12 mo.

While "in there" I cleaned off enerything I saw (using degreaser liberally).

After I buttoned everything up... starts, runs strong (man I missed that), BUT..........

Now she leaks!!!!!!!!!

At first look I though it was maybe pan gasket and tighted down those bolts I could see...

BUT now it seems to be coming down from "upfront" and making its way down and "streaming" down the bottom....

ANY ideas?

thanks!

rixter

did you change the front seal during the tb/wp job?

dleopard

Nope. I didn't figure it was needed... NO leaks pre-sit/fix

BTW - "She" is:

'83 5-speed US, Chiffonwieb

dleopard

OH, and it seems a "little" heavier driver's side upfront, but is falling to the ground more center/ pass' side

dleopard

OK, OK, last one before y'all get your two cents in...

rixter, where in Cary are you? I'm there too... GO FIGURE

rixter

you're in Cary??? bring it over

dleopard

SO.... It looks, at very quick first glance that Rixster may be onto something....

Wierd, though, driven everyday for the past 2 weeks, and now she's leaving me love notes...

COULD be the front seal (GRRRR!!!!!) Wiped down the front and belly and drive to work - the visable gasket through engin bay, under the dipstick tube was "glistening" and the oil pan from the tube on the driver's side down the slant under the AC belt had what appeared to be a fresh coating of oil....

PLEASE, give me hope that I don't have to pull everything off the front again... (yeah, right)

dleopard

On the dipstick tube I used a new crush-ring, on the other tube I reused the the o-ring...

However, and this is just based on the cusory glance, it didn't look to be seeping from there... but I could be wrong.

thanks,

d
'83 S 5-speed US - Chiffonwieb / Brown
'96 Cherokee Country - Arctic / tan
'04 9-5 Aero (SAAB) - Coffee Black met / tan

dleopard

Hmm, I looked for o-rings at the dipstick, but didn't find any that I recall... However, I did find a crush ring, found the pt# and got one from DR... I will pull tonight and give 'er a look-see. I will also give the seal at the return / filler tube and the pressure and level senders' areas a good wipe / run / look.

thanks,
d
'83 S 5-speed US - Chiffonwieb / Brown
'96 Cherokee Country - Arctic / tan
'04 9-5 Aero (SAAB) - Coffee Black met / tan

dleopard

So, I run home from work... Start thinking as I drive...

When I "did" everything (wp/tb/etc...) the car had been sitting ~ 12mos. I also changed the oil (went with Mobil 1 15-W50) started the car, and had some lifter noise... SO, per some email savers I topped off with Risoline (Sp?) and I also put in a 83C thermostat (replacing a "dead") 75C.



SO, here was my question:

Ya think that the sittin', Risoline, higher temp, and external dousing of degreaser just killed the gaskets?

(ya know, sittin' = dry, the risoline eatin' the gummy buildup, heat makin' the oil "thinner," etc...)

TIA,

d
'83 S 5-speed US - Chiffonwieb / Brown
'96 Cherokee Country - Arctic / tan
'04 9-5 Aero (SAAB) - Cappacino Black Metallic / tan

Daniel Dudley

Could just be the thinner oil. Try changing your oil to undiluted. Old front main seals don't like it when you reassemble into them. Hope that's not your problem. You don't want oil all over your new timing belt either. They don't like it for the long haul.

Garth S

No!
Degreasing/cleaning engine externals does not normally attack seals and gaskets - nor does adding a 16 oz. can of Rislone to 8 qts of oil thin it to the point of squirting past any sealing surface.
If Sterlings call on the dipstick does not solve it, remove some covers and look for the oil track. The oil leaks repaired on my 16v last time in were at the O-ring seals and plugs of the cam gear rear plates as they bolt to the cam covers. The distributor O-ring can also be a leaker, but more likely is the oblong gasket under the oil filler cannister.
Confirm the dipstick o-ring first ....

lorenolson888

Hi

Oil dipstick tube is a definite possibility... my 86 used some small o rings and I used some yamabond

But why risk it... it is not that bad to remove the plastic timing cover and take a look... it could save your engine... I agree front main seal could cause slipage...

LO

lorenolson888

Oh Yeah,

Definitely would not leave rislone (my dad always used to say use ATF) which looks a lot like rislone.... You should use it and then do a hot oil change... after 20 miles of high revving fun

Long term... use some amsoil or Mobile 1 20- 50... maybe add some of the STP or Lucas oil stabilizers.... they are heavy chain oils.... My car seemed to like it... When I first got my car it was running so rich that my oil smelled like gas... since i fixed it the oil is much less gassy smelling...

I used castrol (1$ per quart @ Costco) organic and rislone and did a hot oil change... I looked 150 miles later in the crankcase ( oil pan motor mount job ) and my crank case was quite clean... though I am not sure if it was from rislone...

Old oils came without detergents... new oils all have detergent... So What???
It used to be that adding new oils to old cars would cause sludge to thin and the solids (metals etc) would come out and cause engine wear. Also the detergent would wash away sludge etc. that was holding the engine together, gaskets to seal etc...
So I have heard of people who got grandma's car and it ran fine... then they got "smart" and ran high detergent oils through and the car started to burn oil like a champ and had multiple failures... gasket and seal failures

So running solvent and detergents in a car can a be a problem especially on an old car....

Our cars are hopefullly better cared for and for the most part have all had detergent oils run though them because they weren't around in the era of non detergent oils. But runnig solvents and cleaner shoud be done with a little caution...

My first car was a BMW 530i 1975 one of the first Bosch FI BMW... great little car... And one day I took it to a so called "BMW mechanic" for a tune up... He said He cleaned my injectors by adding some fuel injector cleaner to the tank... The cleaner said 1 bottle for 10 gallons or so... He did one bottle in 2 gallons.... So in 20 miles of that my car leaked fuel really badly... it was a fire hazard... I had to remove my intake and replace all of the Injectors ouch especially for a high school student... But I could thank him too... for motivating me to work on my own car and giving me a love of german engineering....



LO