Strange Oil Leak

[freckvan1]

Evening All,

My 84 DG W/C 1,9 is leaking what looks like really black watery oil from lower recess on joint of Engine and Gearbox .
Also same black oil seeping from lower bolt on Starter which is odd . The Inspection hole on top left of bellhousing shows sign of same Oil misting/thrown out, no plug .
Flywheel does look darker than usual .

Did Oil change ten days ago, van been on long run over four days Ayrshire, lost bit of oil, Dipstick showing just above min., when set off halfway . Oil still clean .
Initially I thought the Gearbox is leaking as oil is so black, which could be clutch dust, although have no problem with gears, or pulling . Can’t smell anything distinctive from this oil .
The lower Starter bolt has me puzzled, I can only assume Oil is collecting at bottom of bellhousing and being thrown up by Flywheel and ending up in casting cavity, then seeps out bolt hole .

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the cause is for this ?
Been reading loads on here regarding main/shaft/Flywheel seals so all those will be replaced, I’m thinking as Flywheel maybe contaminated then clutch may be compromised and probably get that replaced .

Anyone any ideas and best way to approach this ?

Atb,
Chris

[kevtherev]

My crankshaft oil seal leaked and oil oozed from the bottom of the bell housing drain.
I changed the seal, spigot bearing and clutch.
I leaked again soon after.
I had neglected to check the crankshaft endfloat, and a simple shim adjustment would have stopped it leaking so soon.

[freckvan1]

Cheers Kev, will bear that in mind .
Can’t get bl...y filler plug to move yet, now on traditional chisel, punches and lakes of Plusgas !

That oil dripping really black, drive looks like carpet bombing .

Atb,
Chris

[937carrera]

Does it smell like engine oil or gearbox oil ?

Engine oil quite OK, gearbox, pretty whiffy stuff

[silverbullet]

Excessive crankshaft endfloat also causes loss of oil pressure and can wreck an engine in short order.

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

[300CE]

I concur with Ian above - worth checking end float. I had a huge leak there on the way back from buying my bus, it was down to excessive end float which wrecked the engine (oil was grey due to the movement of the crank).

[diabolov]

Unrelated to the leak problem, But why does gear oil stink so much?

M

[tobydog]

Stinky sulphur stuff

[diabolov]

Interesting, Thanks

M