My Bird is incontinent....

[mh434]

Full house....oil, coolant and transmission fluid....do I win a prize ? Does look a bit like an alien crime scene.
I have an old Land Rover so I am familiar with built in highway lubrication systems, its when it stops dripping that you start to worry.

Jon

[Dan Leavens]

Jon love your statement about the fluid on the floor.

Does look a bit like an alien crime scene.

These old girls do leak and identifying the source is important.

[Yadkin]

After years of dealing with small leaks I've proven, at least to myself, that they can be stopped. My last fix was the transmission, so I'll use that as an example.

There is a vent on top. If you have too much fluid in the case it will simply go out the vent and leak over the entire right side of the case. I plumbed mine with a rubber hose to drain out more neatly at the bottom. So far no drips from that. If I had to I could put a cheap clear plastic fuel filter on the hose to absorb an occasional drop.

The fill tube enters the pan on the side with a double flare fitting. My fitting is worn so leks a bit. A careful cleaning followed by a smear of RTV cooper on the sealing surface did the trick.

The cheap steel pan distorts at the flange when you torque it to spec, which is 10-13 #-ft. Also, many of these gaskets are cork or cork-rubber, and the Type F fluid seems to go right through the cork. My solution was to carefully straighten the flange then using a good rubber-type gasket and "gluing" it on the pan with RTV black and letting it set for 1-2 hours. Then insert the bolts, put a thin bead of RTV black on the machine side of the gasket, and torque in place to 1/2 of the factory spec (5-6 #-ft).

[DKheld]

......I have an old Land Rover so I am familiar with built in highway lubrication systems, its when it stops dripping that you start to worry.

Jon

What fluid? - oh I see it now - had to get out my magnifying glass -

I'd love to have a garage floor that clean.






at least my Triumph GT6 doesn't leak - but that's because I'm rebuilding the engine and its all apart !

I hear that the fellow in the UK that came up with the MOT system only owned a bicycle.....


Eric

[Yadkin]

at least my Triumph GT6 doesn't leak - but that's because I'm rebuilding the engine and its all apart !

Watch some Youtube videos of how modern engines are assembled. No gaskets, just RTV grey. Essentially, glued together. All cast pans which are more rigid.

The RTV black is softer and I find it works better with sheet metal pans.

Dave Dare suggests using locktite on the flange bolts when using lower torque values to keep them from backing out; not a bad idea either.

[OX1]

Full house....oil, coolant and transmission fluid....do I win a prize ? Does look a bit like an alien crime scene.
I have an old Land Rover so I am familiar with built in highway lubrication systems, its when it stops dripping that you start to worry.

Jon

Nope!!, forgot PS and WW washer.......

[simplyconnected]

...Dave Dare suggests using locktite on the flange bolts when using lower torque values to keep them from backing out; not a bad idea either.

Again, I cannot take credit for this idea, but simply passing it along.

Remember the Ford Escort? Ever since 1981, Ford never used an oil pan gasket. They squirted RTV and let the engine make its own gasket.

Loctite? Ford used to use aluminum castings from their Sheffield, Alabama plant. Every head was submerged in a Loctite process to close any porosity. These were overhead cam engines with NO cam bearing inserts. The cost savings was huge over many millions of engines.

Another cost saver was in a process for the connecting rods. We used to cast or forge the large hole in an oblong circle because the machining process would slit the cap off the rod so that the two parts, when put back together, formed a circle. Think about that. Slit the rod off, put it back on, then machine (hone) the hole, round. Ever since the 4.6L Romeo engine, we scored two thin lines on the inside of the rod, then pulled the two halves apart with hydraulics. The operation sounds like a shot gun blast in the plant. Each rod perfectly matches the mating cap and in only one orientation. There is no side-play. The only drawback is if one half is missing, then both must be discarded. When both halves are tightened the parting line disappears altogether. Ford engineers came up with some stellar ideas that saved many millions in simple product designs. - Dave