Oil leak from fan/shroud (w/ video) - updated

ddare · Last edited by ddare on Mon Jul 14, 2014 9:03 am; edited 1 time in total

Hi all,

Since within a week of picking up my engine from Oldspeed, it's been leaking oil like this from the fan shroud and behind the fan. The oil pump cover is not leaking... the oil cooler is not leaking... the oil breather is not leaking. It has to be coming from the fan somehow, right?

I have zero familiarity with sand seals, but I remember from the original description here that the fan was modified to accept a sand seal. I don't see a seal of any kind when I removed the inner fan though. Is this what's causing me to lose so much oil?

Here's a vid:

Link

asesapie · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 7:18 am Post subject:

Wow that's an oil leak! I would suspect it's coming from where the can seals to the case. There might be derbris in there making the seal fail. It sounds like you had that motor built. I would take it back and have them fix the oil leak issue as a new motor shouldn't leak like that.

KTPhil · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 10:15 am Post subject:

Looks like you are running an external filter. Maybe they drilled/tapped the case poorly and it's leaking from a fitting?

Donnie strickland · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 10:53 am Post subject:

Take it back.
_________________
71 Elm Green FI A/T Squareback

ddare · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 11:02 am Post subject:

paradox_pete · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 4:15 pm Post subject:

I would wager on pump cover as it is directly above your drip, but as you seem certain that's not the source, there are also 3 or 4 galley plugs above and left of the pump that could be the culprit.
-pete

ddare · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 4:45 pm Post subject:

paradox_pete · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 9:28 pm Post subject:

My concern with the oil pump cover being the culprit is that it doesn't account for the oil inside the fan shroud. There's enough oil coming inside of the fan shroud that whenever I take off the air cleaner or generator, I can see a puddle of oil underneath, on top of the cooling tin, that comes out from the seam between the tins and the fan shroud.[/quote]

OK, I didn't realize from your initial post that you had oil inside the fan shroud. The video shows a drip from the outside and a major drip off the mustache bar. I don't know about sand seals, but I think they are meant to keep dust and dirt out of the engine not the oil in. The stock engine has no seal on the fan end, but there is supposed to be a slinger ring just under the fan. Also, and I think this might be your issue, there is supposed to be an oil return thread on the fan hub. Sounds like your fan might have had this machined off for a sand seal? You might want to look into a replacement fan and see if that helps.

eyetzr · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 5:26 am Post subject:

If the guy that did your motor did same trick that my builder did to mine, he drilled out the fan housing to clearance the oil pump. I have 2 nice holes in the fan housing. Fun repairing that. Could be a source as well. Take it back.

ddare · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 9:00 am Post subject:

I was going to take it in today, but curiosity got the better of me and I decided to check out the cooling fan. I'm glad I did. I found a crack in what I believe is the channel that was mentioned that returns the oil:

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

It's also slightly out of round there. So I pulled the trigger on a cooling fan.

Oldspeed does great work and to be clear, they did not do the final assembly - I dropped it off as a short block and later dropped off the heads and breather and they assembled it to the long block. I must have got a little froggy torquing the bolt that holds the fan to the crank.

KTPhil · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 12:21 pm Post subject:

That is a keyway for a Woodruff key, not the oil return grooves, which are spirals and on the O.D.

paradox_pete · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 1:00 pm Post subject:

ddare · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 3:30 pm Post subject:

Yeah, it looks like the grooves were machined off on my fan.

KTPhil · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 4:03 pm Post subject:

The only reason to machine off those grooves is to fit a sand seal. Who fit that fan and seal on the motor after the rebuild?

ddare · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 7:13 pm Post subject:

I fit the fan. What seal? On my invoice there's an $8.95 charge for a sand seal (the machine work was done by Brothers when the PO owned the car), but I don't have any seals or hardware in between the crankshaft and the fan other than the wavy washer on the big bolt.

KTPhil · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 9:53 pm Post subject:

I think you've located the leak!

ddare · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 9:22 am Post subject:

Can that be welded and fixed? I have a new fan on the way, but considering this one has been welded & balanced would like to re use it down the road if that's an option.

ddare · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:36 pm Post subject:

Does the channel of the sand seal open towards the engine case or towards the cooling fan? I would assume towards the engine case, but just want to verify.

ddare · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 5:17 am Post subject:

I dropped the fan with the crack off at the machine shop, going to get it welded and turned. I also bought a spare cooling fan just in case its needed down the road.

What's tripped me up is that it turns out there *is* a sand seal currently installed on the engine. So not having the seal at all was not causing the leak. I have a hard time believing it could come only from that little crack in the fan, though.

W1K1 · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 5:48 am Post subject:

Did you check the sand seal to see if it's not worn out? That will cause a huge leak too.
Is the groove on the pulley from the seal?
They should have a speedi sleeve on there for the seal to ride on. If the surface is not smooth enough it will wear the seal quickly.
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1973 super
1965 squareback 1500E
1971 bay window westy- subi swap


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Oil leak from fan/shroud (w/ video) - updated
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