Has your twink any oil leaks and how do you feel about them!

[terryp]

It was time..........

[rocket]

Mine has a very very very small one Terry..Oh and since my diff was rebuilt last month a strange drop now and then from centre of car,looks like clean new oil so hoping its overfill that got trapped on chassis and will go away with time....


Ian

[terryp]

Ian
I think I have one of those as well!

and one that occasionally comes on the speedo cable - where it bends upwards....?

I have been a bit of a worrier and know all the drips , leaks even if they are very very very very small!

Terry

PS Mark - you haven't voted yet?

[Steve G]

I have what seems like a pint of the stuff all over my engine bay after a drive, I think the cam cover gasket is made of super oil absorbent cork and just pulls it all out of the engine and sprays it everywhere. Stops all the ferrous components in the engine bay from rusting!

[1558cc]

We'd been having a couple of leaks from ours. Through the gasket etc. Turns out the engine wasn't breathing properly. We'd already got a cylinder head breather, but it was a tube into a bottle, a few small air holes in the lid of the bottle, and low and behold. NO MORE LEAKS! To be honest, it was only happening on the race track though

[Elanintheforest]

Well all three of my running twincams have some sort of leaks, including from the gearbox and differential. The most oil tight car I have is an S4 which I'm about to sell! But the S3 with a slight leak from the rear crank oil seal (and from the gearbox speedo takeoff) will stay like that, unless it starts to pour out.

The original point put by Alan was to cast doubt on any twincam engine's ability to be oil tight, which it can and for many years....but even the best built engines with perfect components have gasket / seal failures after 15 plus years and over / under usage!!

I'm also into old Jags and they have a similar problem. So my approch is to stop the gushers with new gaskets / machining / new components, and put up with the odd drip on the floor and misting in the engine bay.

Mark

[1558cc]

Proof of the pudding. Newly bodged oil collection tank + Cylinder head breather = Non-Leaky Twin Cam

[Spyder fan]

Well, I voted for non leaky and feeling smug about it, but then my current twincam is a zetec

My old twink used to leak from the front cover which resulted in the odd couple of drips on the garage floor every week, this was after I removed and capped off the mechanical fuel pump and sealed the sump properly. Probably could have cured the front cover as well if the engine needed to come out for some reason, but it didn't seem worth it especially to the idiot who rebuilt the engine and said they all do that sir! When I say rebuilt it, he actually sent it up to QED for them to do all the work and then reassembled the engine and charged over the top for a bespoke specialist rebuild.... could have done that myself, but I was young and foolish at the time (well less than 50)

[69S4]

Mine leaks from just about every orifice but not enough to pass the "I can't stand it any longer" action point. Underneath the car there's always an oily drip about to fall off of some part - the gearbox drain plug seems favourite, but not a lot actually stains the ground. It probably gets blown off when I use the car. Most of it probably comes out of the front cover - I took a closer look at the fit recently when I was doing the water pump and the distortion was substantial with up to 10thou gaps between the cover and back plate with it all bolted up. I'm surprised it didn't leak more than it did.

The Elan gets first call on garage space so the occasional drip falls into a suitably positioned drip tray. Our two modern cars take their chances outside and drip happily onto the tarmac drive. Compared to my wife's previous car (Fiat Punto) the Elan is a paragon of oil tightness. The Fiat went through a period of leaking just about any fluid onto the tarmac yet it had done less than half the mileage the Elan has. Our Land Rover has had periodic bouts of incontinence as well, leaking clutch fluid, power steering fluid, diesel, and engine oil - all due to well known faults with the (TD5) engine.

[alexblack13]

After about 3.5k mls since I rebuilt the entire car...

Gearbox just replaced with the 5 speed. No leaks.. The rebuilt 4 speed did not leak either..

Diff' rebuilt with all new seals etc.. Oil tight.

Engine. Not bad at all. Very small leak from head vent pipe to airbox connection. And it needs a new crank pulley as the existing original has some pitting on the seal running 'land' resulting in a small drip.. Top end is all great..... So far..

Al' .....

[terryp]

Well the upshot of all this is that 88% of us have oil leaks!

I don't feel such alone now

Terry
PS I think I may have cured one!

[Spyder fan]

Terry,
Well done for exploding one of the constant myth's and telling it how it is.

Could you put the following on your to do list

1) I can't make a fast getaway at the lights, even Nissan Micras humble me, is there something wrong with my clutch / diff / driveshafts?
2) I always seem to run very hot in stop start traffic, others tell me it shouldn't happen and are smug about it, do I need to spend money upgrading my 40+ year old radiator or will the old one be fine?
3) Originality is best, that's why I'm going to buy a rust magnet folded metal chassis with all the torsional stiffness of a blancmange instead of an advanced spaceframe design that has better torsional stiffness than a 26R chassis. After all I won't be able to see it once it's fitted, but I will have the pleasure of telling others it's orginal. The Nissan Micra owners will love me
4) I will keep the 40+ year old nest of wires and relays behind my dashboard and under my bonnet as a mark of respect to 'LUCAS' the Prince of Darkness.

there's loads of others, I'm sure that you can think of a few: Please note that I'm not having a zetec/duratec v's Lotus twincam pop at anyone or anything here, just telling it the way I see it with classic Elan motoring.

[terryp]

Terry,
Well done for exploding one of the constant myth's and telling it how it is.

Could you put the following on your to do list

1) I can't make a fast getaway at the lights, even Nissan Micras humble me, is there something wrong with my clutch / diff / driveshafts?
2) I always seem to run very hot in stop start traffic, others tell me it shouldn't happen and are smug about it, do I need to spend money upgrading my 40+ year old radiator or will the old one be fine?
3) Originality is best, that's why I'm going to buy a rust magnet folded metal chassis with all the torsional stiffness of a blancmange instead of an advanced spaceframe design that has better torsional stiffness than a 26R chassis. After all I won't be able to see it once it's fitted, but I will have the pleasure of telling others it's orginal. The Nissan Micra owners will love me
4) I will keep the 40+ year old nest of wires and relays behind my dashboard and under my bonnet as a mark of respect to 'LUCAS' the Prince of Darkness.

there's loads of others, I'm sure that you can think of a few: Please note that I'm not having a zetec/duratec v's Lotus twincam pop at anyone or anything here, just telling it the way I see it with classic Elan motoring.

Oh I think we may be a little at odds .........
1. No , but I do have Sue Miller Driveshalfs
2. No - Completely as standard apart from a revotec switch and 71 degree thermostat. But the importance of a functioning recuperation bottle, the two side metal infill pieces , the top sponge, the bottom deflector and to ensure that no parts are over the radiator flow are all paramount.
3. No, mine is galvanised
4. No, my car is only 38 years old

In short I prefer to drive a classic car with all its leaks with subtle modifications rather than a Company Ford Mondeo with another body on!
Oops that may have been a pop

Terry

[69S4]

Just the merest flicker of a smile across my face when I read Alan's post above. The first thing that crossed my mind was - "well it could be worse, you could be driving an old MGB and you'd still have all of the same issues and more". Wiser council prevailed though - probably best to keep those sorts of thoughts private.

[Spyder fan]

Terry,
I was forgetting how the galvanising process stiffens the folded metal chassis and of course that some of us are driving mere youngsters, you also come under the heading of smug regarding the radiator and the wiring issue will of course continue to be one in your case.

( Terry gives a Gallic shrug )

I very much enjoyed the thread, and I don't mind people having a pop at me or my cars