Tim
1850 posts
Joined: 18/10/2004 09:40:59
Location: Bournemouth United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
clutch seal protector
If you mean the primary gear oil seal, then yes.
Posted: Dec 11, 2011 03:57 PM
ezekied
1 posts
Joined: 02/01/2006 20:03:54
Location: Bristol United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Oil leak through primary gear?
Oil leaking from bottom of clutch cover - replaced cltch and orange oil seal.
Oil continued to leak - replaced new primary gear and new orange oil seal.
Oil continued to leak - stripped it down again. Orange oil seal lovely and dry.
Must be coming through primary gear??
HELP
PS primary gear end float is spot on - took a lot of time to amke sure it was ok
Posted: Apr 19, 2010 11:08 AM
pickme
672 posts
Joined: 08/09/2004 23:10:14
Location: Chippenham United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Clutch primary seal?
Does your clutch slip at all? If oil is coming out where you say it is (and to be honest it doesnt sound like much) then it may be the primary oil seal that goes round the end of the driveshaft. Its not a hugely difficult thing to replace, just very long winded because you have to remove the clutch assembly. Personally, Id only worry about this if the clutch starts to slip a lot because it is such a pain the replace. My engine looses about 2 lt a month just standing in the garage from the gear lever seal. I dont use the car much, so I dont worry.
Posted: May 14, 2005 10:59 PM
Ben1400
5 posts
Joined: 23/07/2005 21:58:54
Location: Plymouth United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Clutch Seal Protector
I think you may be thinking of the oil thrower ring, made out of a nylon type material? it has an internal spline that allows it to slide over the primary gear splines and but up against the primary gear oil seal? If so this is there so that if the primary gear oil seal in the clutch housing fails it will 'throw' the leaking oil off the crank/Primary Gear as opposed to letting it run along the primary gear and onto the clutch plate thereby avoiding the obvious problems friction material and oil combined would cause.
I have had some engines with & some without this thrower. If you have it or can get hold of one I would recommend that you fit it. However it is not designed for a big oil leak just a small amount of seepage that you would see coming out of the 'witness hole' in the bottom of the clutch housing. If oil is dribbling out of this hole no number of throwers will save your clutch plate!!!
Hope This Helps
Barry
Posted: Jan 17, 2012 12:32 PM
Barry Brown
511 posts
Joined: 23/06/2008 12:08:31
Location: New Barn United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
oil leak
Hi Donald,
Given that you haven't had a reply since 19th I would suggest the engine building types aren't reading this post. If you have an oil leak coming out of the clutch housing then suspect the primary gear oil seal, which splits if the primary gear bearing has too much wear (or has broken) so you may need more than just the seal. You don't want this coming back at you form the US as they tend to get all legal on your butt.
Get all your engine numbers together (serial number as weel as the engine type you have quoted) and drop an email to Somerford Minis. If you can send them photos as well they are very helpful in this respect - just remember to buy something from them by way of thanks.
http://www.somerfordmini.co.uk/contact-us
Posted: Mar 22, 2013 04:40 PM
Clayton
53 posts
Joined: 08/07/2006 10:12:48
Location: Christchurch New Zealand
Clutch primary oil seal
I read in the Haynes manual that you can pull on the primary gear to remove the seal.
Digging the seal out sounds a little crude and I don't want to damage it's housing. Can anyone confirm the Haynes method? I didn't think the primary gear would fit through the oil seal aperture?
Posted: Dec 18, 2007 07:52 PM
C. Barron
332 posts
Joined: 04/05/2006 21:28:31
Location: Mid Calder United Kingdom (Excluding channel Islands)
Clutch won't free on race engine
I'm inclined to think the primary gear clearance is wrong too., as in there not being enough of it. The engine revs dropping as a result of clutch actuation could be as a result of the clutch/flywheel pressing hard up against the gear and then the gear is being pressed hard against the crank bearing/oil seal aperture. I had a similar problem by fitting the C-washer off one engine onto the crank and primary gear of another.
Posted: Jun 29, 2006 06:39 PM
serious oil leak
Hi Gary,
Missed this post the other day. Where to start as the Mini has so many places to leak from? Here are the ones I've come across on manual gearbox versions.
rear left corner of head to block if head not torqued properly. tappet chest covers at rear of engine suffer from the gasket shrinking - use the rubber version and not the cork type of gasket but usually just nipping them up with a 1/2 ring does the job. block to gearbox/sump bolts. output shaft oil seals on diff housing. and on the manual gearbox there is the ever present weeping gear lever remote rod seal but check what the auto uses instead. Occassionally the primary gear bearing gets loose and knocks out the oil seal behind the flywheel - you can spot that one as the oil will drip from the drain hole in the flywheel housing (has a split pin you are supposed to whizz around every service to keep the drain hole free)
My money is on the tappet chest seals and I only found that one by having the engine steam cleaned and then once dry covering it in talcum powder to see where the streaks appeared. Use unscented or your car will stink for weeks or until you steam clean it again.
Posted: Jun 11, 2013 09:38 AM
Clutch problems
Hi,
Normally when the hydraulics are at fault the clutch will bite with the pedal just coming off the floor as it won't have the fluid compression to overcome the pressure plate springs. The fact that the clutch slips when you press the accelerator suggests that either the driven plate is worn or contaminated with oil or the actuating arm is out of adjustment.
First job is to adjust the actuating lever arm. The workshop manual will tell you how to adjust the bottom collar and the 'stop' bolt. If that is all good then you can only check the next bits by opening up the clutch housing and stripping the assembly. Don't leave it too long as a worn driven plate will run the fixing rivets against the flywheel, which will then need machining or replacing.
I had a '96 spi in which the primary oil seal broke because the primary gear bearing collapsed. The car ran fine but spewed oil everywhere from the drain hole at the bottom of the clutch housing. Check this for any leakage while you are there.
Posted: Jul 12, 2013 09:56 AM
Cluch Judder
Hi Paul,
I have the same issue with a '69 850. It was rebuilt with all new mounts but I never dropped the clutch out (hindsight is a great thing). The slave and master cylinder were rebuilt, the clutch arm pivot was greased and the throw-out adjuster setup with feeler gauges.
I too have an intermittent judder. If I increase the revs it is less noticeable most of the time but occassionally it shakes the odd vertebrae loose no matter what I do. I do get a lot of black dust on the starter motor spindle which suggests the driven plate may be wearing heavily as it wasn't used for 15 years - either that or it is gradually wearing off years of rust and moisture contamination. It doesn't slip and passes the handbrake test for clutch wear.
Oil leaks for the primary gear seal will eventually result in a leak from the drain hole in the clutch cover. look for the split pin hanging out of the hole and see if its weeping.
Keep us updated if you manage to solve it.
Posted: Nov 01, 2010 01:23 PM
power loss
ive driven my car for the first time since the beginning of august while its either been sitting in a bodyshop or on my drive.it seems to have lost a significant amount of power. before i could easily do around 50 mph at around 3500 revs in 4th and now it struggles to do 40 going around 4000 revs.
i would much appreciate an answer to my dilemma and also any suggestions on how to tune my standard 998cc engine for as cheap as possible.
cheers
If you're doing lower road speeds at higher revs then i suspect the clutch is slipping either through contamination or bad adjustment.
If you've had a slow oil leak (usually from the oil seal behind the crankshaft primary gear) it might get burnt off in normally every day usage. If it's been standing for a while then the oil build up may have soaked into the driven plate and it's now compromised. It could also be oil and dirt causing the sliding spline to stick and therfore the driven plate isn't moving freely and is now partially 'off' the flywheel. The easy option is that the bodyshop has knocked something out of alignment during repair - check to see if the clutch slave cylinder has been repositioned badly or if the actuator arm has become bent. if it isn't this then you're looking at a clutch strip and report by a spanner captain.
Posted: Oct 29, 2009 02:37 PM