Oil leak in vee

[SaskStag]

Hi all,
Stag engine is running great, but it has now developed an oil leak right side front head gasket area. Picture shows area, but note I'm just using an old picture of the vee to illustrate the place.
No other signs to be worried about. Definately oil, runs down to back of vee on right hand side and onto driveway.

leaky gasket 2014.jpg

Was getting over-pressurising in that side cam cover, with oil leaks from filler cap and catch can. Pretty sure that's when it started. Related? I can't see any oil river joining a potential filler cap/cam cover leak to the river in the vee which makes me think it's the head gasket.

Not over-pressurising on that side now there is a better breathing system for Weber carb installed.

Retorque head??

Leave alone and monitor?

TIA
Tanya

[Dave L]

Hi Tanya
A couple of years ago on a trip to Stowe,Vermont an oil leak developed in the vee of my green Stag.To make a long story a little shorter, it turned out to be the bottom seal on the water pump. Clean the vee as best you can with rags and the brake cleaner that you can get from the likes of Canadian Tire. Make sure that the vee is dry and then spread baby/talc powder liberly in the vee. Run the engine and follow the oil trail back to the origin of the leak. I beleive that you would likely have a Princess Auto faily close to you,if so check if they have one of those inspection cameras on sale as you will find it invaluable in tracing your oil leak.

regards
Dave

Toronto

[SaskStag]

Thanks Dave,
I can use the talc trick to make sure of the path. I should edit my car mods. I don't have the original water pump anymore though. I have an external pump in the car now. Not sure it will leak there anymore????
Best wishes
Tanya

[flying farmer]

That is where the oil way runs from the block to the head, it is only a low pressure feed from the jackshaft so in theory there is not much chance of it leaking, however I have had the same problem on one of my engines some years ago.

The only thing you can really do to help is to retorque the head and hope it goes down a little more. Best to just live with it if this doesn't help as it is a head gasket replacement otherwise, the leak on my engine actually got less over a period of time.

One possible bodge that might help is to thoroughly degrease the area and cover the join with some epoxy glue. I did this on the timing cover on one of my tractors when a gasket started leaking back in 2001 just after the warranty had run out. The gasket is still split and I have to clean it off and redo it every year or so, but I still haven't had to take it apart and fix it!

Neil

[Dave L]

Thanks Dave,
I can use the talc trick to make sure of the path. I should edit my car mods. I don't have the original water pump anymore though. I have an external pump in the car now. Not sure it will leak there anymore????
Best wishes
Tanya

Tanya I am also fitting an external water pump on the engine I am building for the other stag I am presently restoring . I know that you had some delays in sourcing the silicone hoses for the external w/pump. Would you say that it would be easier buying the hoses here in North America or from Steve ?

Regards
Dave

[SaskStag]

Hi Dave,
Definately Steve if he has a set ready to go and you are pushed for time! I also think he has some custom made ones now. Dealing with UK distributors/manufacturers by myself was plain frustrating - nobody wanted to talk to me, except Viper Hoses who also do the U shaped hose. Most hoses seem to be made in the UK! Forge Motorsports USA get their hoses from the UK anyway.

Or, HPS in California do very nice quality hoses, but they don't do a U hose and that slowed me down trying to source elsewhere. In the end it was quicker to go back to HPS, buy two 90o hoses and a 3" ally pipe as an insert. By doing that and making that turn a bit longer, I didn't need to cut down the original stainless steel pipe so all pipes retained their bead/flare (whatever its called) for more security. It's a tighter fit however, especially where the power steering unit is concerned. So far, this setup is working fine, despite the extra junctions/clips.
Also, get hoses sent in a box! Canadian Customs seem to be very supsicious of pipes going through the mail, and both U hoses that I did order (ebay one [quality??] and Viper in UK [nice]), each took a month getting into Canada as they were wrapped as is. The U hoses are still on my spares shelf.

Hope this helps! The pump is awesome.

Neil, thanks very much for the advice! I'll see how it goes.
Tanya

[Andrew S]

Out of interest, how does oil leak from the water pump as I thought the oil seal was below the water level?