Graham King Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Folks, was at the club track day yesterday at Brands, towards the end of the day noticed that the car was using oil more than expected. On closer inspection this morning there is oil all over everything from bellhousing back, removing the clutch rubber bot cover there is a lot of oil inside the bellhousing so it looks highly likely that the rear crankshaft oil seal has failed. The engine is a wet sumped (Apollo) 1.8K with forged pistons and a DVA ported VHPD head on Jenvey TB's. This was built about 6-7 years ago by DVA and was recently refreshed, by a very reputable company to whom I attach no blame so will not mention directly, (new valve stem seals and piston rings) to fix an oil consumption issue. The engine has done about 1500 miles (max) since then. I will obviously have to remove the engine and double check it is the oil seal but on the assumption it is has anyone got any insight as to what might have caused such a failure? The engine ran great all day sounded really sweet and was definitely not down on power at all. The max oil temp I saw was approx 100 so hot but not excessive and the oil pressure was fine throughout the day and after on the drive home (normal k-series drop on right handers allowed for).This thread http://www.lotus7.club/forum/techtalk/what-makes-crankshaft-oil-seals-go?page=1 talks a lot about excessive crankcase pressure being a potential issue, my cam cover is vented to the air box through one outlet but the other is capped. Could this be an issue?Before I remove the engine I will do a compression test just to double check that nothing else more seroious has gone wrong, is there anything else that I should be checking first that may help with diagnosis?Also can anyone point me at the correct part no for the rear oil seal please. Rimmer Bros have LUF000050L as the rear seal but others have LUF100560L as having superceded LUF000050L due to a design issue.Apologies for the long post but any advice appreciated. Graham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mankee Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 I run with one of the cam cover breathers capped as well. I seem to remember that the smaller one doesn't do much anyway, so thought I'd try running a single breather into a catch tank. No issues as far as I can tell.There's a picture floating around somewhere showing two bolts (M5/M6 maybe?) securing the crank seal in the recess to stop the thing from falling out and leaking oil everywhere.Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon_h Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 It should be ok if it's the part load breather with the circa 3mm hole blocked not the full load one. If the rear seal has been changed there has been mentioned a particular one that doesn't seal. Can't remember exactly but one with a gold coloured metal part being at fault. Get a proper one and they are ok. The bolt in mod also helps. I expect Mr Andrews will be along with a bit more insight to this issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham King Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 Mankee/Simon, it is indeed the smaller one that is capped, I've run like it for 6 years so didn't think it was an issue but thanks for the confirmation. Graham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilyhands Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 All good advice about crankcase breathing. Beware that the current oil seal available from the OE suppliers is made in China and will harden and leak in short order. This can be confirmed by examining the outer metal shield, if it is gold in colour then it is the type that is known to leak.i have a stock of the original OE seal made by INA which is the same specification and material as the factory seals, these do not fail or leak. If you cannot find one of these then I am happy to supply them. It is also a good idea to cement the seal in place with a good quality silicone sealant and if the engine is out, drill a supplementary oil drain hole near the bottom of the void behind the seal, the sump will have to come off to clear the swarf.Optionally you can bolt the seal in place using M3 or M4 dome headed capscrews.Oily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham King Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 Dave, many thanks for your reply, I'll drop you a mail re the oil seal, would rather buy from a known source than risk another failure.cheersGraham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham King Posted August 6, 2015 Author Share Posted August 6, 2015 Just to update on this, took engine out today, the seal on the engine was indeed gold in colour. It had actually blown out, didn't appear to have failed. There was sealant round it and it didn't appear damaged particulary apart from just not seated at all. New one fitted, sealed and being left clamped in place overnight. Graham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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