All:
I sure hope that the solution to this problem isn't so obvious that I'll be
embarrassed.
I'm really baffled. I have a persistant oil leak. And sometimes, it is in
quarts. I've checked the plugs in the oil gallery, and they are fine. I'm
sure that it isn't the gasket between the oil filter housing to the block -
no signs of "blow-by". All the oil seems to be coming from the top of the
full-flow filter canister. Up until yesterday, I though that it might have
been from a conversion to a spin-on filter that I did. Well, I leaked about
1-1/2 quarts of oil just during the time that I was adjusting the idle,
choke, etc. prior to first shake-down run. So, I switched back to the OE
full-flow, and got the same result. A tremendous puddle of oil on the floor
when the oil was under pressure. BTW: using 30 weight Castrol.
Yesterday, I pulled the canister and there was a tear in the sealing ring.
I used 220 grit wet/dry sand paper to smooth any burrs in either canister or
housing - just as a precaution. Put on a new ring (had to purchase a new
cartridge to get it) and reinstalled canister and added oil. Went for a
little drive and oil pressure stayed at about 65-70 lbs (gauge is suspect,
though). But, when I got home, had lost about one-half quart of oil and was
getting quite a bit (but not a cascade, as before) of dripping on the floor.
Later got on-line at Moss and learned that you are only supposed to torque
these canisters to about 15 ft-lbs. I was pretty sure that I exceeded that
when I put on canister (if tight is good, tighter is better:-).
So today, I pulled the canister yet again, and carefully removed the sealing
ring. Looked great to me. Indentation (but not excessive) all around, and
no signs of tears or areas where canister might not have contacted the
sealing ring. Put new ring in anyway, but had no way to check torque - I
have old torque wrench with 1/2" drive, and if I could have gotten a socket
in the small area accessible to the bolt on the canister (breather and line
to clutch slave cylinder in the way) I would not have purchased
gearwrenches. So, took my torque wrench, and found an exhaust pipe clamp,
and tightened it to 25 (yes, I should have done it to 15 but I'm getting
senile;-) ft-lbs to see what that felt like. Figuring that the torque
wrench was twice as long as my gearwrench, and that the inverse square law
probably applies here, I estimated that I would have to put some more muscle
into the gearwrench to reach 25 ft-lbs (yes, still confused about the
number) of torque. Got everything done, came into the house, and re-read
instruction on torque. Realized that I might have messed up by
over-torquing, and got under the car (glad the oil isn't in yet) and removed
the canister. Very carefully removed the sealing ring, and didn't even see
an indentation from the top of the canister.
Wonder if I ran out of thread on the bolt before I got the canister sealed
to the ring? (I'm tempted to cut about 1/4" off that long bolt anyway,
because it takes a long, long time to get this canister off and on. That
bolt seems excessively long.) The ring I used today (I'm getting quite a
collection) is about 1/64" shorter than the one I used yesterday that seemed
to show signs that it sealed well (despite the drips). I'm tempted to take
yesterday's ring, turn it upside-down, and re-use it to about correct
torque, but this seems like poor practice.
Will appreciate any advice.
Dave
David Dressel
Champaign, IL USA
'67 Jaguar Mk2 3.4 Auto
'60 Triumph TR3A (Betty Lou)
(unknown year TR4 from Jack Drews in a couple of weeks)
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