Bad case seals? Crappy Mc. craps? since my engines in now... i got all these oil stains underneith it, and can see the drops slowly forming. its nothing alarming... i think. if so, will coat the seams between the engine casing in quick steel

I wouldn't bother. First, if the case seam is leaking, yoiu can bet alot of other things are too, second, without a thorough degrease nothing will stick to the case.

A well built engine wont leak oil, If its leaking between the case halves the only fix is a rebuild basicaly.

isnt it also to do with different metals. teh vw has both alloy and magnesium components (isnt the heads alloy and the case magnesium) and these components have different expansions and contractions when esposed to heat, so the tolerances needed are not as tight as they could be if it was all one metal. thus depending on how hard you work your motor, how many drops you get.

this is my understanding anyway.

and it is not an oil dripper as you put it... it is a TURF MARKER!. everybody knows taree is now my stomping ground, and i park here, and here, and here, oh and over there. not so often here. must spend a lot of time here...hmmm never get to this part of town, um is she finds out i spend time here *jsut clean that off*... :duh

[ Edited on 24/7/2006 by twoguns ]

You hear it about all cars. Fords, Holdens, Pommy cars, French cars, Italian cars, whatever. To a degree, all older engines leak. If they don't leak, then they may have no oil left in them?

Haha Too tru !

Just the dub marking the territory. :P I'm sure don't won't appreciate it when i eventually get the car on the drive way, Lol

Yes Chris,
its mainly because back in the good old days before silicon and plastic gasket etc....
The engines get so hot and the cylinders are steel....
the rest alloy..... all the metals expand etc at different rates and because of different temperatures.....

BUT....
I did read with interest when someone said that VW engines were designed to leak a bit of oil, and the oil would cover the underside of the engine....
because in countries that throw chemicals & salt onto the roads to stop ice forming.....in the winter...
These chemicals would corrode the bottom of the alloy engine.... so VW made 'em leak.....

that is a bit hard to believe.....
but back in the 40s & 50s etc most car engines leaked oil and also used oil at an alarming rate.....

I saw a VW engine that was left sitting about 5 meters or so from a swimming pool.... for about 6 years...?
I don't know if the pool was salt water or chlorine....
but there wasn't much left of the alloy engine....
it was very badly corroded.....
so if it was covered in oil, it would have still been OK....

Lee

They can leak around the pushrods as well. Ours doesn't leak from the engine but there is a little oil that leaks from the breather tube. We added a length of rubber to the end of the tube so that it bypasses the lower engine tin (the tin under the pushrod tubes) and it drops to the ground. This is very little. If you don't do this, the oil drops on to the lower tin and builds up there so it drops everywhere.

Yogie

They're much tighter about this sort of thing in Switzerland (and I would expect most other Western European countries). No drippage allowed at the annual inspection. However, there are still air cooled veedubs getting around there, my mum tells me of two that live near her (Bay busses, one a lowlight). So they don't necessarily have to drip just 'cause they're a VW. Probably that heating/contracting thing, being that they run fairly warm as far as vehicle IC engines go, and the design of course (split crankcase, pushrods, etc...).

My busses leak very little, like maybe two drops of oil after a hard run.

Cheers, A.

Most of them leak because they're old. The seals are old and dried up and don't work properly, or the breather system has been compromised allowing excess case pressure to build up.

And crappy Brazilian gaskets sets, especially the flywheel oil seals and push rod tube seals, these go hard in the bag before even fitting them.

Yes,
Push rod seals are crap.... even VW ones don't last...
Only way to fit them....

coat both sides of the seals with Permatex or avaition jointing cement [non hardening]

then when the seals crack in a year or so, the permatex stops the oil leaks....

really works...

Lee

It's all relative.
I've owned heaps of old cars & VW's are pretty good once u've stopped the rockers & pushrod tubes leaking. Old BMC stuff is notorious & old Jags are just as bad despite having heaps of bolts holding things on -eg 21 bolts on the pushrod engine sumps! Maybe it's a pommy tradition thing- years ago u could always tell a Triumph m/c rider by his oil-stained boots!