Somethings leaking...

[Benyon]

This is the o/s (starter motor side) of my gear box - very dirty and greasy:

This is the n/s (if I have them the right way round) - a little dirty but dry:

What is likely to be leaking, do I need to get it addressed before an MOT?

 

[Loxy]

Get some on your finger & have a smell of it - as tofufi said gearbox oil has a rather distinctive smell.
Can be hard to tell where leaks are sometimes as oil has a habit of spreading in funny directions - esp. when leaking in a moving vehicle.
Is there any oil on the underside/rear of the engine or on top or sides of heat exchangers?

 

[Benyon]

I shall go and have a sniff shortly, didn't notice a smell from it yesterday when my face was next to it, but then i didn't scratch the surface.

There is engine oil all over the engine, most of which has come from the over fill pipe and there is some (engine oil I presumed) on the o/s heat exchanger which I think is from the rocker cover - hopefully just a gasket replacement. The heat exch have only been in place for approx 500 miles so are fairly clean except the above oil. Despite the oil under the engine I have not had to top up since the last service 3000miles ago.

This greasy dirty stuff seems confined to the area in the picture and looks like the leak has been there for a while. I haven't checked the level in the gearbox yet, will obviously do this when I get my 17mm allen key!

Slightly off topic but I am thinking about removing the engine and stripping it down for a rebuild but I need advice. Not experienced mechanically but have access to tools and help (aircraft maintenance engineer), is it realistic for me to expect to completely strip the engine and rebuild it in a week - fulltime, i am redundant at the minute - and how much should I expect to pay for consumable/replacement parts presuming major parts can be reused.

I am planning to drive 10,000 miles round Europe and I want the engine to be working A-OK!!

 

[Loxy]

Doing an engine rebuild:
yes you can definitely do it yourself ( I rebuilt mine into a 1700 (74mm crank) in the house with no previous experience :lol: ), you will need a few specific tools to fully dismantle - flywheel holder thingy (to stop it turning - cant remember the name :lol: ), torque wrench & some specific size sockets for gland nut etc & probably some other bits as well.
Timescales are I guess dependent on what you find & what you need to buy & availability.
If the case needs machining work then it will depend on how quickly you can turn that around.
Do you have any details on the current engine mileage, is it the original or a replacement etc.

Best bet is to read as much as possible about it.

Buy the best quality gasket set you can find - vw heritage do an elring one that is I believe pretty good & it includes a good quality flywheel seal.

Once dismantled consider condition of each part - remembering that you wont want to be dismantling again for a good few miles if you do it right.

New bearings - wait until case condition is determined as if it needs machining then you will need to get oversize bearings (also condition of crank will dictate whether it needs machining & again this will affect the bearing inner diameter.
If your case does need machining it might be worth getting it full flowed as well (even if you just end up plugging it for now - it will allow you to fit an oil filter/cooler at a later date if reqd although it is probably less important on a stocker).

Might be worth giving some of the ancillaries a clean up/rebuild as well prior to this - carb, dizzy, fuel pump, dynamo/alt & look at tinware - consider repainting/replacing if knackered.

Just some random thoughts above really, if you have any specific qs then fire away I'm sure we can help.

 

[Benyon]

Still not been outside to smell the grease It looks miserable and grey out there!

The engine (VEGE 1641 t/p) isn't that old - 3yrs maybe - and done around 12,000miles. I just don't want to have trouble with it while I'm in the middle of Bulgaria or wherever! It was removed to fit 34ICTs in July-ish and at that point tinware was resealed etc, but there are are number of bits with screw tabs missing etc. While it was out the mechanic - VW professional (http://www.dubtricks.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false - said compression was down on one cylinder and it runs rough as buggery everytime on start up - I have put this down to 009 dizzy and leaking sh*tty 4-tip Monza (which I still haven't replaced despite having stock style exhaust in my garage ) I also want to know a bit about the engine before we embark on our travels - cue EarlyBay Tech Weekend.

While I'm at it, and you're answering so promtply :wink: when the engine is running in neutral there is a whirring/whining sound that goes when I press clutch pedal, is this the release bearing on its way out?

 

[james_stan]

Only 12k and always ran with oil in it and regular changes ?

I would estimate that the bottom-end is probably OK. Just give the the front pulley a tug
to check the ubiquitous 'end-float' . If sound then I would forget about splitting the case
and stick to a top-end rebuild. I would also check the compression again myself
again cos maybe that's still OK.

Just my four-penneth..

Cheers

James

 

[Tofufi]

If I were you, I'd be trying to find the reason for the poor compression on one cylinder

Also, doing 10000 miles round europe will require 3 oil changes en route. If you service it before you leave, that is..

Good luck

 

[Bookwus]

Hiya Benyon,

I just cruised through your thread.

I'd definitely agree with Loxy. Rebuilding the engine is a very do-able project. My only concern, from what you have posted, is the time constraint. One week may not be enough time for a first-time rebuild. Assembly is a pretty straightforward process (although it's easy to waste time by having to redo steps out-of-order) but cleaning and prepping parts for assembly can take a good deal of time. Add to that any machine shop time and you can easily throw yourself way over a week.

I would strongly suggest that you buy a copy of Tom Wilson's book, How To Rebuild Your Volkswagen Air Cooled Engine.It will walk you step-by-step through disassembly, checking parts, and reassembly. I couldn't imagine a first-timer not having this resource. Well, actually I could, but this book will lay it all out for you. Lotsa pictures too!

 

[Loxy]

I would strongly suggest that you buy a copy of Tom Wilson's book, How To Rebuild Your Volkswagen Air Cooled Engine.It will walk you step-by-step through disassembly, checking parts, and reassembly. I couldn't imagine a first-timer not having this resource. Well, actually I could, but this book will lay it all out for you. Lotsa pictures too!

It is an excellent book that I also used when I did my rebuild (along with the many others in my VW book library :wink: )

 

[Benyon]

Cheers all for your pointers all. If I do go ahead I may strip just the top end down and see how that looks, but I think I will definately look at

Tom Wilson's book, How To Rebuild Your Volkswagen Air Cooled Engine.

If I were you, I'd be trying to find the reason for the poor compression on one cylinder
Also, doing 10000 miles round europe will require 3 oil changes en route. If you service it before you leave, that is..
Good luck

I want to find out the reason for the low compression which is why I started thinking about an engine rebuild and I'm prepared, or know I have to prepare for some oil changes, I'm goling to have more service parts than personal belongings at this rate! :roll:

Back to the initial question, there is no real smell to the gunk below the gearbox other than dirty greasy oily muck so if gearbox oil smells as strong as suggested I don't think its that. Could the leak be anything else?

 

[Loxy]

Its either gearbox oil or engine oil (or a major brake fluid leakage - but I think you would have noticed that by now :lol: )
Does it reach/start or appear to come from the bellhousing - gearbox/engine join ??
Does your clutch slip at all? if so it could be the flywheel oil seal - which would require engine out/flywheel off to replace.

Have you tried cleaning it off & then running it for a bit, then looking underneath to see if you can see where its coming from?

 

[robins]

ok mate,could this be grease from the cv joints, boots broken,just changed them on my bus
and had the same sort of mess on the same side,if your boots joints are ok could it of been when they weren't and not been cleaned off.

iam just suggesting as i no nothing :wink:

 

[Loxy]

ok mate,could this be grease from the cv joints, boots broken,just changed them on my bus
and had the same sort of mess on the same side,if your boots joints are ok could it of been when they weren't and not been cleaned off.

iam just suggesting as i no nothing :wink:

Could be I suppose, but thats gonna be some minging grease to be like that, although that cv doesnt look all that smart in the pic.

 

[robins]

the grease in mine was minging alright,black **** :wink:

rich