Hi - I am preparing in a few weeks time to remove my oil pan on my 87 - 2.8 as the gasket looks like its shot plus its made of cork and as my car is an 87 it should be rubber.
there has been a small oil leek on the car since I've owned it and I want to get rid of it once and for all.

so my main question is - if it turns out that the oil pan seal is o.k and oil still leeks - is it possible to remove the cover to see if its the crank seal side or the gearbox side that is causing the leek with the engine and gearbox still in the car.

as I said I intend doing this in a couple of weeks so that I am prepared for it

any opinions welcome.

Jon

You should be able to determine where the leak is coming from by the color of the lubricant. Engine oil will be dark, even black. Transmission fluid will be red or clear, depending on the transmission. If it's from the engine, it could be from the cam cover plate or the rear seal and the oil would be on the engine side of the flywheel. Transmission stuff will run down from inside the bell housing side. Occasionally the distributor O-ring will also let engine oil run down from the top, around the engine/trans mating surface and it will drip from the inspection plate area.

Yes, you should be able to remove the inspection plate (4 number 10 screws) on the manual trans to inspect the main seal. As for the cam seal it may be difficult to get a good look see at it as the crank blocks the view somewhat. If the cam seal is the leaking that oil will also drip down on the area of the crankshaft possibly giving you a bad read on the problem. Also if the distributor seal leaks that oil may also contaminate the area.

Best solution for leak in area of the crank seal, after checking the distributor seal, would be pull the trans and do both the crank and cam seals and clean up the mess. Sorry for that news, hopefully your oil pan was the problem!

thank you for the advice guys - Fierofool normally a good identifier between used engine oil and transmission oil - however the car is not a daily driver and both the engine and transmission have 5w/30 oil in as recommended and at the moment look the same in colour.
Kevin87gtfiero - hopefully it is the oil pan but I have the guide for removing the transmission from the fierofactory in the worst case scenario.
I do know that it is not the distributor o ring - I fitted Rodneys High temperature one in a while ago and is still going strong.

as I said earlier I plan to do this work in a few weeks probably back end of September when my road tax for the car runs out and I don't use it on the English roads in winter days too much salt on the roads and definitely too much rain.

thanks again
Jon

Joh m, good point about the oil. If the engine has been run for any period of time, maybe the engine oil will be a little more contaminated and darker. Anyway, which side of the flywheel it's coming from could be of help.

Right guys I may be in luck - I decided to remove the cover this morning and found the following;

gearbox side of cover where there is a trace of oil running down.



engine side of cover again with a trace of oil running down - where the arrow is pointing there is a drop oil sat in there



next pic of the flywheel and sump gasket shows the gasket partially spread where the red arrows are - and oil where the yellow arrows are



I think the cover has been wedged where the gasket is - as the flywheel is dry.
From what I can see into the bell housing there is a little dirt probably from the clutch.

jon

[This message has been edited by jon m (edited 08-24-2014).]