[T3] Oil cooler seals.

[William Jahn]

The sump on mine is flush across and at the seam where the case halves fit.
The only issue I had is once because I use thicker gaskets from Autozone
made by Mahle and they need to be tightened a bit more once the engine has
been run at temp then I have no leaks there. It's dry even now. Where i see
wet oil the most is on the lower tins on both sides and the oil seems to
run along the two bars that secure the lower tin to the heat Exchangers. I
don't have any valve cover leaks , they are dry under and around. No oil in
the fan housing. None on the cylinders or heads the cylinders have surface
rust. Now the entire case that I can see has old caked on oil with dirt
including the oil pump cover and even that area on the rear hanger. When I
had the runners off there was old dry caked on oil  around both sides
around the head to runner spacers both sides had exactly the same buildup ,
yet I am talking 23 years since I had them off.

 As you know the case top slopes down from the center to the sides. I wish
I had the dye and a black light ,with that I might be able to see a trail.
When I rebuilt the 72 case which is what I have in it now I was very
careful lining everything up yet at that time I used the paper gaskets
cylinders to case . Nowadays many use silicone there and under all the case
half washers between the washers and case. I just went by the Bentley and
Haynes because the haynes offer the proper torque for the old style none
sealing nuts which have a higher torque spec. I didn't see that in the
Bentley . When I got the car the engine in it was not well cared for so I
removed all the tin and cleaned it off and flushed the case out with
mineral spirits , soaked the cooler in carb cleaner for days and flushed it
out because the sump screen was packed I felt the cooler might be. After
that I flushed the cooler out with mineral spirits and blew it out. It
didn't take long before that case looked like this one . I had now idea how
many miles it had because the odometer was not working and stopped at
88,000 mile. It developed a rather loud internal rattle  so I rebuilt this
case and heads . Never did open the other to find what the rattle was. I
tried the cooling fan and even pulled the pump to see if the cam gear was
loose . I still ran great. On one oil change I found the valve stem seal
bits in the sump.

 I had high hopes once I rebuilt this engine it would not leak oil. I even
got NOS push rod tubes , lifters German  bearings and everything including
the oil pump and cover. I had the case cleaned and even made certain the
pressure relief and bypass valves were free and they were , I replaced both
with NOS because they were a bit shuffed . I have not checked them since
yet I have not found  a reason to. If I had the metal seals I would just to
be certain it's been 23 years yet I do change the oil .My VDO gauge shows
high yet I don't think it's very accurate. It shows 10 PSI just turning the
key on, plus the VDO sender should read 0 Ohm  no pressure and it shows a
reading higher making both the gauge and sender read too high.   This was
the first VW engine I rebuilt, only other air cooled was a 61 corvair .
Hundreds of water cooled Ford and GM . Once I took the 72 engine apart I
found the case was just rebuilt yet the heads were not so I used standard
bearings which is what it had and used it's crank and cam and case. Had the
heads rebuilt. New cylinder kits German Mahel.

 I can live with the leak, I certainly don't like it and need to check the
oil level which one should do anyway. I just check it twice a month and
find I need to add about 4oz every two months. It does not have blue smoke
or any smoke out the exhaust. Still I do know they have to burn a little
just the nature of any internal combustion engine, it's only when you see
smoke out the exhaust you know it's an issue.

 I don't know if you recall I got a good used dist vacuum can and when I
installed it once the engine warmed up it pinged . I recall the stock
pistons were dished the new ones were not and yet they did the heads they
slightly flycut to true the surface. Then I remember Russ Wolfe telling me
I should time it at TDC rather than 5* BTDC because of the higher
compression. It does not ping with the can vacuum line plugged, it does
connected so I leave it plugged . Perhaps Russ was right. I must say it had
better pickup from a stop with the vacuum advance in play. If I recall 73
was 7.3 to 1 and others were 7.7 to 1. The glitch is as far as I know it's
a 72 engine and had the PCV and dished pistons yet the case number is a U
and the 73 case was an X . The Bentely states U 7.7 and X 7.3 and U is
timed @ TDC  X @ 5 BTDC. I used to have a working vac advance on the X
engine set at 5* BTDC no issue yet it had the dished pistons and in 1986
the fuel was better. I've checked the full mechanical advance marking the
pulley and it's not over advancing.

 Long post I know , just things I wonder about . It's due for the year oil
change I've ordered different sump gaskets and will see where the actual
level sits on the stick with 5.3 pints since now that I've replaced the
hanger mounts the rear is an inch higher which might have changed where the
oil reads on the stick. Changed the oil before I changed the mount and want
to be sure I know where the full level lands on the stick. I always assumed
the level should be at the top mark when full. I tend to think it should
have read on Samba and this site  differently lately. I read just keep it
between or a bit above the lower mark. I used to just pour in 3 quarts when
I got this car and it landed on the top mark, didn't worry it was fine.
.

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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