A Little Bit Of Oil Through The Clutch...

[JustinP]

Recently when I had my engine / gearbox out I installed a new spigot bush bearing in the end of the crank and I installed a new Jim Berry clutch setup. Jim strongly advised that everything be clean and grease / oil free inside the bell housing. I cleaned everything so it was all spotless, with new gearbox front seal and front cover seal.

I soaked the spigot bush in oil as per normal before installing it but I also (stupidly) put a little bit of oil (half an oil can squirt) into the cavity where it sits, before putting the gearbox back on.

After putting the engine / gearbox back into the car I noticed a few drips of oil coming out from the bottom of the bell housing. Im assuming this ran out of the spigot bush cavity and down the surface of the flywheel / clutch plate.

There is probably only 4 or 5 drips worth on the ground, is there any chance this will affect the clutch in terms of grip. Or will it just burn off when it heats up?

Cheers

Justin

[OYEAHA]

If it gets on the friction plate material you could be in for some dramas . Which may result in you having to swap out those friction plate discs (twin?)

You really don't want any sort of oil flicking around inside the bell housing ! If you haven't run it yet prob best you clean it up before you do

[ahhbee]

just have a quick check that the cam cover half moon seals arent leaking down the back of the engine. i had a similar drama when i did my clutch, new rear main seal everything spotless. a week later found oil on the bottom of the bell housing and convinced myself it had come from the rear main seal, luckily i had a good look before i pulled the box back off and it turned out to be oil that had run all the way down the back side of the engine from a leaky half moon seal. $15 for new seals and a quick degrease and never saw another drop of oil.

[JustinP]

If it gets on the friction plate material you could be in for some dramas . Which may result in you having to swap out those friction plate discs (twin?)

You really don't want any sort of oil flicking around inside the bell housing ! If you haven't run it yet prob best you clean it up before you do

It's just a single plate, probably a 50/50 chance they were in a position where the oil would have come into contact with the friction plates.

[JustinP]

just have a quick check that the cam cover half moon seals arent leaking down the back of the engine. i had a similar drama when i did my clutch, new rear main seal everything spotless. a week later found oil on the bottom of the bell housing and convinced myself it had come from the rear main seal, luckily i had a good look before i pulled the box back off and it turned out to be oil that had run all the way down the back side of the engine from a leaky half moon seal. $15 for new seals and a quick degrease and never saw another drop of oil.

Can't be the half moons as they are new too, and also the engine doesn't have any oil in it yet

Do you think that oil leak ran down over the flywheel into the clutch area, and if so did it cause you any problems with the clutch holding power? I guess if it came down the head though it would run behind the flywheel.

Cheers

Justin

[ahhbee]

i think in my case it ran down the engine side of the plastic shield between the engine and gearbox, but ive side-stepped it, and generally driven it hard with no ill effects so far, though in your case if your sure that its leaked from the spigot then it should in theory run behind the flywheel and not the clutch plate, though i dont know how much the oil would be whipped around by the flywheel. depends whether you want to risk ruining a clutch plate or spending a few hours pulling the box back off.