Re: Oil Leak - fresh 2 litre

["Tony Sims" <simstony@domain.elided>]

> Here are my questions for the group.  What else could it be besides the
front
> pulley?  I'm assuming a leak around the front cover o-ring seal would be
> noticeable higher up?

Since I haven't been scolded for offering advice for a few weeks, I'll risk
it. . .

Could it be leaking from the tacho drive under the water pump?  I don't know
how much oil is supplied to those little gears, but there is a seal there
that could fail, and it's in a position to drip oil down and have it look
like it is coming around the front seal.

> If I somehow damaged the front seal, how difficult is
> it to change in the car?  Would I have to pull the head, sump and front
cover
> to replace it?

I could be wrong, but it *looks* like you could replace the front seal with
the engine in the car and minimal disassembly.  If you take the pulley off
the end of the crank, you have access to the seal.  In the teardown
instructions on CarDisc, it shows the front seal being removed before the
front cover is removed, so this part can definitely happen in the car.  It
seems like with a little care and patience, you could get a new seal back in
without taking anything else apart.

You'll want to pull the radiator and the fan (if you still have one) and the
v belt and Spica pump belt (if you still have Spica) for access.  Plus it
will be a lot easier to see where your leak is originating with this stuff
out of the way.  IIRC, the pulley rides low enough that you might have to
loosen the engine mounts and raise the engine an inch or two to get the
pulley to clear the bottom of the radiator support.  As far as I can see,
there's no reason to pull the sump, but you could always do that later if
you run into a need.

I have not tried this myself, but if my car had a leaking front seal, I
would!  Beats the hell out of pulling your engine back out.

Cheers,
Tony
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