Jump to content
SAU Community

Replacing your pushrod tube oil seals in your LS1 V8 (a must read)

gen4_v8

By gen4_v8,
in Tutorials / DIY / FAQ

 Share

Recommended Posts

gen4_v8 Rookie

gen4_v8

Posted
Posted

Pushrod Tube Oil Seals

Leaky pushrod tube oil seals are a common cause of oil leaks on the VW air-cooled engines. To fix the leak, you have to remove the pushrod tubes and replace the seals on both ends.

It's not a technically difficult task, but it is time-consuming and will try your patience. It will be easier to do the job with the rear wheels removed.

NOTE:This procedure applies only to the Type 4 engine. To replace the pushrod tube oil seals on a Type 1 engine is much more involved, since the cylinder heads have to come off.

To remove the pushrod tubes,

1) Remove valve cover -- get your big honkin' screwdriver under the bail and pry it down (don't pry it up. You'll regret it. Ask me how I know).

2) You are now faced with your rocker arms. Note that there is a thin metal wire spring thing that is very oddly shaped and goes the length of the head, fitted under the rocker arms and holds the pushrod tubes in place. Pay attention to how it goes because you will need to know later. This is another reason for doing only one side at a time so you can reference the other side for reassembly. Anyway, loosen the rocker arm nuts a bit so you have enough slack to get that spring out. Try not to bend it up too much.

3) Get a clean paper towel or something similar to keep all the parts on. Put the spring on the towel. Now remove the rocker arm nuts and washers and put them on your towel. Don't lose 'em. Pull the rocker arms off the studs and be careful as they will want to fall apart as soon as they are free from the studs. Put them on the towel next to each other like they are in the engine. This is one of those jobs where you want to avoid mixing stuff up.

4) Remove a pushrod (I do these one at a time so I don't get the pushrods mixed up. Just pull it right out. Sometimes they are full of oil and surprise you. Lay it on the paper towel, make sure it's straight by rolling it. If it's bent, time for a new one.

5) Remove pushrod tube. You do this by twisting/pushing/pulling it out through the cylinder head. Many say not to use pliers on the tube but if you use pliers and squeeze lightly (so as not to crush the tube) you'll be OK, I used pliers when I did it and they're MUCH easier to get out that way. Just be sure to squeeze very lightly. You usually need to set up a twisting motion to break them free and then pull back firmly but gently and pull the tube out through the head.

6) Clean up old tubes or replace them. Use parts cleaner, like brake parts cleaner or carb cleaner. Get all the crud off the tubes, you may find that they are not supposed to be black. You may also elect to purchase a complete set of new pushrod tubes. Remove the old seals from the tubes if you are reusing them. I usually get them off by getting a screwdriver blade under the seal and prying it off the tube.

7) Install new seals. There are two kinds available. One is the stock VW seal and the other is the seal that gets used on the Porsche version of the same engine. Buy the expensive Porsche version. Word is they will outlast the VW seals quite well. You will need 16 seals for the job and the seal for the case end of the tube is smaller than the seal for the cylinder head end. So you should have 8 of the large seals and 8 of the small.

8) Clean up the sealing surfaces on the cylinder head and the engine case. Use a paper towel moistened your parts cleaner of choice. Be thorough, any dirt on the sealing surface will cause leakage. Take your time and do it right.

9) Repeat with each pushrod tube.

10) Put everything back together. When reinstalling the pushrod tubes, you need to make sure they seat all the way. They don't tend to want to go all the way in by hand. I used a big 1/2" drive extension as a drift and gently tapped the tubes home with a hammer. Be careful doing this that you don't pinch the seals on the head end.

Make sure that you put that wire spring thing back in correctly. It holds the pushrod tubes in place. Again, don't mix up the pushrods, rockers, etc. Also, when putting things back together, you will want to make sure that the pushrods seat correctly in the lifters. If you twist them around by hand you can just feel them slip in where they're supposed to be. After you're done, put new valve cover gaskets on (don't use sealer, just a thin coat of wheel bearing grease on both sides of the gasket). If the sealing surfaces for the valve cover gaskets on the heads are rough, it is wise to take some steel wool and use it to smooth the cylinder head surface out. This will stop those pesky valve cover gasket leaks. If you have solid lifters, you will need to adjust the valves after this operation (that's another whole procedure, but is written up well in Muir). Some say if you have hydraulic lifters you also need to adjust but I've seen it done without adjusting and it's been fine.

I hope this helps someone else as much as it helped me. If you need further instructions please pm me or reply to this thread.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • soviet_merlin
      Duncan's V37.......race car?

      By soviet_merlin · Posted

      Thanks for doing that Duncan! Makes you a good person in my books. We don't get kangaroos or wombats here. But we have bats and it's similar. AFAIK it's often the mums with a baby attached that get hit because they drop lower when starting from a tree. If you hit an animal, check on it. https://www.ifaw.org/au/resources/wildlife-rescue-app An app to get the closest wildlife rescue contact.
    • Murray_Calavera
      Jacks that fit under GTR lips that can reach the subframe?

      By Murray_Calavera · Posted

      My dream is also to have a proper hoist, but I don't think it will ever happen. My quickjack is probably as close as I'll ever get, it really is very good though. 
    • Duncan
      Duncan's V37.......race car?

      By Duncan · Posted

      Yeah we keep on in the dailies, it is pretty poor how many animals get hit and the driver leaves without checking....have saved a couple of little ones over the years. Bit of a gruesome job though, pouches generally need to be cut open because they are so tight and often the joey doesn't realise mum is gone so they are still locked onto the teat. I checked the modules in front of the DS wheel where an oil cooler should go.... There is the radar unit - that can go for race use) One of the 2 HX water pumps, the silver cylinder. That needs to be kept but might be able to be relocated But the bad news, the big computer mounted vertically in front of the wheel (blocking any potential air exit) is the electric steering computer. That is required until/unless i do a hydraulic steering conversion, and in CAD based modern car design it is not like I can just pop a big unit like that somewhere else (plus the loom would be too short anywhere else too). So, the passenger side is OK to clear out (just use a smaller washer reservoir, potentially elsewhere), but the DS no beuno
    • Duncan
      Chris' Toyota Mark ii JZX110

      By Duncan · Posted

      Well, all the best with the new camry It was interesting to hear about the UK process, it is generally a lot more streamlined here with a shipping agent looking after all the import side (noting the exact final price can still be a surprise.....) and I've used a few different brokers on the japan (or US) side, and never had any trouble with any of them....luck of the draw I guess. You mentioned you didn't get the auction sheet (understandable since you bought it from a dealer, not auction), but I always try and get hold of that because they are pretty thorough. I've imported 2x R grade vehicles over the years and both were fine, repairs in Japan are pretty thorough compared to here in Oz.
    • Duncan
      Jacks that fit under GTR lips that can reach the subframe?

      By Duncan · Posted

      BTW I measured the jack I have, it is 70mm at the saddle but you only have about 700 until it returns to 150mm high at the cylinder so it is good but no magic bullet.
×
×
  • Create New...