<VV> Oil pan leak - not!

[Craig Nicol]

I brought my '67 140/4 sedan into the shop for two repairs: pilot bushing
and oil leak. Of course the pilot bushing job required the removal of the
transaxle - not fun, but not too bad overall.  

 

The oil leak appeared to come from the RF corner of the oil pan, so I had
planned to do the complete transaxle R&R followed by the oil pan gasket job.
Lucky for me, I decided to clean-off the oily residue and hose the whole
area down with brake cleaner to verify the source of the leak while I worked
on the transaxle and bushing.  

 

I checked to verify the source of the leak as I was putting the clutch back
together and the leak appeared to be the bellhousing gasket.  Whoa, that's
unusual.  I cleaned the area a second time and a few minutes later close
inspection revealed an oil sheen on the side of the bell housing near the
engine block.  The sheen was an inch wide; the area above the "sheen line"
was dry.  The bell housing had a crack!  Luckily the transaxle was out and
all I had to do was to remove the flywheel and replace the bellhousing.  

 

She's all back together now and leak free! (and the pilot bushing is quiet
again - that was caused by a bad input shaft.)

 

Craig (feelin' lucky today) Nicol