[T3] Oil cooler seals.

Wed Jul 1 12:34:14 PDT 2020

I didn't use a torque wrench to tighten my flex plate bolts.  They are
still fine after 12 years!

On Wed, Jul 1, 2020 at 12:07 PM William Jahn <willjahn975 at gmail.com> wrote:

>  I've seen oil drops for quite a while now. I thought it was the oil cooler
> and I did feel something in that area is leaking a bit.  Fixed the oil
> sump, no leak there. I drove today about 10 miles. Got home to see if the
> sump plate was still dry, it was . While I watched for a minute or so I saw
> two small drips dead center front of the engine where it meets the auto
> trans diff bell housing.
>
> Sounds like the rear main seal. I have to live with it. No way I can deal
> with pulling the engine which if I did I would leave the trans/diff in
> place. Plus as some know the flex plate has to come off and the issue is I
> don't have a torque wrench capable of tightening that to the proper spec
> and being a flex plate it's very difficult to secure the engine to do this.
>
> Yet it being a 73 with all the FI wiring horror which earlier FI didn't
> have everywhere. I'll live with it and keep an eye on it. I'd rather deal
> with oil cooler seals.
>
>  Wish there was something to pour in to seal it yet that's not a very good
> idea and only a butcher would do this.
>
> William
>
> On Sun, Jun 28, 2020 at 7:24 AM Jim Adney <jadney at vwtype3.org> wrote:
>
> > Sounds like you did a nice job. It's amazing how that thick plate gets
> > deformed over time, even though no one ever overtightened those nuts, but
> > most of them are at least slightly deformed by now, and, yes, the
> > aftermarket
> > replacements are all junk.
> >
> > I also like to take a tapered reamer to the holes in the strainer. Those
> > get
> > pounded inwards over time, making the strainer hard to remove. Taking a
> > bit
> > off with the reamer makes R/R of the strainer much easier.
> >
> > Jim
> >
> > On 27 Jun 2020 at 17:51, William Jahn wrote:
> >
> > > Jim :
> > >  I changed the oil today, used Valvoline VR1 , had enough left for one
> > oil
> > > change.
> > > What I never checked was the sump plate and I used the one off the 72
> > which
> > > has the drain plug. I needed it because the 73 plate was really
> butchered
> > > and because I wanted to add a VDO temp sensor all I knew about were the
> > > ones they offered for the sump.
> > >
> > >  I drove the car to get the oil really warmed up then it drained better
> > and
> > > while I cleaned the screen and plate I decided to check the plate for
> > > flatness around the 6 holes. I always just cleaned it , never over
> > > tightened the  cap nuts. I decided to check it and the 6 holes were
> > dimpled
> > > . I did the best I could with a ball peen hammer , plate on hardwood
> > > striking the ball peen with another hammer. It was better yet still not
> > > flat so I filed each hole flat and then polished the surface with wet
> > /dry
> > > 600 . I also discovered since I didn't want to ruin the sender I
> removed
> > it
> > > and it was too easy maybe 3 ft lbs. I had good copper drain crush
> washers
> > > and replaced that. Today I put it all back together. This time I only
> > used
> > > a nut driver and 10 mm socket and did the same star pattern three times
> > > with maybe 20 minutes between just to allow the gasket Felpro brand to
> > > compress. I didn't file off much. Maybe .010" the plate is still plenty
> > > thick. I had an old Empi chrome plate yet it was complete garbage,
> > nothing
> > > like the original and certainly not what I would consider flat.
> > >
> > >  I don't know why I never checked the plate around the holes, I just
> > looked
> > > at it, cleaned it and back on it went. I just assumed since I never
> over
> > > tightened it it was fine.
> > >
> > >  I know there are other leaks yet the plate always seems to develop oil
> > > drops on the 6 cap nuts. Maybe now this will slow things down. Nothing
> > > looked like much gray sludge, just a bit of black bits that were not
> > > magnetic, Turns out I had to tighten the two cap breather and I did
> this
> > > after the last oil change and as you know to get at the nut you need to
> > > remove the barrel and washer . I cleaned those yet some of that crud
> had
> > to
> > > drop down in the sump just pulling them out.
> > >
> > > William
> > >
> > >
> > > On Sat, Jun 20, 2020 at 9:57 AM Jim Adney <jadney at vwtype3.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > > On 20 Jun 2020 at 9:08, William Jahn wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > where I do see fresh oil is on the bottom tins and of course the
> > floor,
> > > > > especially if I have the engine running
> > > >
> > > > Once upon a time, I had a rather moderate leak on an engine that I
> had
> > > > just
> > > > rebuilt. Eventually I discovered that this was around the oil sump
> > plate.
> > > > When I had bolted the engine case halves together, I assumed they
> would
> > > > line up perfectly on their own, but on that case, the 2 sides didn't
> > quite
> > > > match. There was a "step" at the case seam, about 1/2 mm high. The
> oil
> > > > change gaskets couldn't quite seal that much of a mismatch. This step
> > was
> > > > easily felt when I ran a finger around that gasket surface, but I had
> > not
> > > > thought to do that as I assembled the engine.
> > > >
> > > > At the next oil change, I was able to loosen all the nuts along the
> > bottom
> > > > case seam and work the 2 sides back into alignment. It didn't take
> any
> > > > real
> > > > effort, so I don't know what I did wrong in the original assembly
> > process,
> > > > but
> > > > this is something I always check now.
> > > >
> > > > Of course, I've also come across sumps where someone left half a
> gasket
> > > > stuck to the case. That's also something a new gasket won't seal.
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > *******************************
> > > > Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
> > > > Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> > > > *******************************
> > > >
> > > > _______________________________________________
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> > --
> > *******************************
> > Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
> > Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> > *******************************
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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