The remarkable thing is that an engine that has only run for 3 minutes in
two years is leaking oil at all. After sitting for a year, you wouldn't
think there would be any oil in the tappet area to leak out the side covers.
Once you fired it up, of course, it would start again.
I wouldn't expect oil to leak out the dipstick tube under any circumstances.
The oil level in the sump is below the base of the tube, so whether it's
coming out the top or bottom, it would seem to indicate either an
excessively high oil level, or a crankcase pressurization problem. A stuck
or clogged PCV valve seems probable. Try running it with the filler cap off
for comparison.
on 6/3/02 10:18 AM, Chris Thompson at ct@cthompson.com wrote:
> On the upside, out in the driveway under direct sunlight, without a big
> black oil mark beneath it, I was able to tell very clearly exactly where the
> oil was coming from.
>
> I almost immediatley start losing oil out the dipstick. I'll be ordering one
> from Moss today. What I couldn't tell was whether it was coming from the top
> of the dipstick tube or the base where it meets the block. While I'm usually
> of the opinion that the simplest explanation is the best, and the dipstick
> is unusually loose in the tube, I'm also a bit paranoid about the condition
> this car is in. Anyone ever heard of it leaking from the base of the tube?
>
> It also, as I suspected, is losing oil from the front tappet cover plate.
> I'll be replacing that gasket as well.
>
> And bleeding the brakes, and finding out why nothing on the dash but the oil
> pressure gauge works until the engine heats up, and refurbishing a whole lot
> of electrical connections......
>
> I may actually have a driving MG this summer.
--
Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the primer red one with chrome wires
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