So after getting my car through the MOT, I noticed it was leaking a bit of oil. I thought it was the sump gasket so swapped that and I think it is all good now... then I notice it is still dripping in the same places.

Then after driving it last night for ~60miles whilst Gary was trying to have a go at tuning the map, I get home, and in the time it takes me to open the garage doors there are splats of oil all under the car..

It strongly looks like it is coming from the rubber seals at each end of the valley gaskets.

Now, I really don't want to have to take the inlet etc off ( I am paid up on the driving trip mid may!)

so, will I get away with undoing the clamps and trying to seal it up a bit with some hylomer blue ?

Also the cause may really be down to having removed the breathing system and it now just goes to air.. (due to now using MB TBs)

Should I be increasing the size of the breathers ?

I've maybe read a bit about a oil filler cap mod, but not sure what it actually is!









(these pics are after I cleaned up the oil.. It was pooling and running round where the bell housing joins and also down the front and pooling where the dizzy goes..)

thanks for any thoughts.

The end bits of rubber are sealed with oil proof sump sealant or similar.

They usually leak if the engine is making crank case pressure which causes the plate to distort, are your rocker cover breathers clean and venting correctly, before you had a vacumn being drawn from the manifold so you may/probally need to open the rocker cover breathers and take 1" pipes away to a catch tank, the ones you have look a bit small to me.

Is it leaking by the dipstick as well?


[Edited on 9/4/15 by mark chandler]

thanks for the reply..

I've ordered (as something else was on the way) 2 breather filters to fit on each side... going to forget a catch tank for now.. this will give a 10mm pipe each side, rather than those joined to a catch tank and out via 1 6mm..

glad I was on the right thinking

in my experience, rv8s are very sensitive to how the breathers are set up......and if they aren't set-up correctly, you'll be chasing oil-leaks forever.

You must have a vaccuum sucking on one rocker cover and the air inlet (tiny hole) on the other rocker cover.

Hi, thanks, that is how I made it when I got the car, with a pcv valve.. However now having switched to ITBs there is no vacuum point, so can't do that anymore.

Alternatively, look at it as an automated chassis rust prevention system

hey hey -- true would keep the stainless nicer!

the amount that came out could have been making my very own skid pan!

drip drip - what ever -- (your driveway I hope Dave will have to cope sometime soon!)

glug glug and I will need another 5ltr bottle of oil to do my 1000 mile france trip! the boot is already going to be full with 3 5ltr fuel cans!

So, I decided I had to remove everything:









what do I clean the old hylomer blue off with ?


thoughts on how to seal it back up? the book says silicone grease on the rubber seals, gasket maker around each port.

I will be getting another 'black' gasket.

thanks

I use a good silicone sealer, both sides of the rubber and plenty all around the V bit at each end ( the ends that go into a V recess/notch between the block and heads). I use Loctite 5926 but there's plenty of others.

Ian

I ended up putting a bit of hylomer blue around the water and red high temp silicone around the rubber and esp around the notches.. seems to be holding tight !

Ordinary silicon will fail, you need the stuff used to seal sump gaskets, wurth do a good one

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SILCONE-FLEXIBLE-TEMPERATURE-WATERPUMPS-TRANSMISSIONS/dp/B008OWAW54

Just make sure whatever you use is suited to oil immersion.

Hopefully this stuff will be ok as it is what I used!