Strange oil leak
Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 6:28 pm
I know, nothing strange about an oil leaks on our cars but this one is weird.
I have removed the engine to get to the bell housing bolt that I forgot to seal
Before fitting the engine I decided to refill the gearbox to make sure the bolt no longer leaked and still had the front wheels on ramps. After filling I checked the back of the gearbox and found oil dripping from front uj on the prop. The oil seal is brand new and had not leaked when filled previously.
Thinking that, because the front was up, the oil had run to the tailhousing I took the car off the ramps and put the back up. This stopped the oil from dripping. Left it for a day and then took the car off the ramps and left it sitting level for another day, still no drips.
Today I put the front wheels back on the ramps and intially it seemed fine. But have now dicovered a small amount of oil dripping from the uj. Now the strange bit is that I had wiped the area around the seal clean and although there is now oil on the uj again and although it is no where near as bad as before, the area around the seal is still dry and clean.
The only explanation I can think of at the moment is that the oil is getting through the front of the propshaft and leaking directly into the middle of the uj, anyone else had or heard of this before?
Chris
I have removed the engine to get to the bell housing bolt that I forgot to seal
Before fitting the engine I decided to refill the gearbox to make sure the bolt no longer leaked and still had the front wheels on ramps. After filling I checked the back of the gearbox and found oil dripping from front uj on the prop. The oil seal is brand new and had not leaked when filled previously.
Thinking that, because the front was up, the oil had run to the tailhousing I took the car off the ramps and put the back up. This stopped the oil from dripping. Left it for a day and then took the car off the ramps and left it sitting level for another day, still no drips.
Today I put the front wheels back on the ramps and intially it seemed fine. But have now dicovered a small amount of oil dripping from the uj. Now the strange bit is that I had wiped the area around the seal clean and although there is now oil on the uj again and although it is no where near as bad as before, the area around the seal is still dry and clean.
The only explanation I can think of at the moment is that the oil is getting through the front of the propshaft and leaking directly into the middle of the uj, anyone else had or heard of this before?
Chris