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bell housing caked with grease but the pressure plate is dry?
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wehrbüchse
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 1:59 pm    Post subject: bell housing caked with grease but the pressure plate is dry? Reply with quote

i'm doing a clutch job and i'm kinda mystified. the entire surface inside the "bell" of my bell housing is caked with black grime, despite that the input shaft bushing is fine, the "oil slinger" is tight, and even the pressure plate is clean. i never had any clutch slipping; i'm doin this clutch job because the tranny came loose & backed away from the block by half an inch, leading to clutch failure.

i guess i'm starting to think it's not gear oil but rather crankcase oil mixed with clutch and road dust. i did have some oil leaking from down below the flywheel. i'm still surprised it would be literally everywhere inside the bell but never got on the clutch, flywheel or pressure plate

i'd also appreciate you guys sharing ideas about why I had such a leak from the crankshaft. I had done the end play to spec (although it's currently at .007" and I can't find any shims for the life of me). The seal looked fine & I didn't even have a groove on the flywheel or anything like that. I even did the thing with the seal spring to make it a bit tighter. and the breather tower is only like 6yrs old

thanks

PS how many of you guys use a gasket when reattaching the bell housing?
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jlrftype7
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 6:22 pm    Post subject: Re: bell housing caked with grease but the pressure plate is dry? Reply with quote

I would expect Gear Oil to smell like gear oil, even dried a bit mixed with dust.
If the mess doesn’t seem like gear oil, then it’s probably engine oil as you suspected.
Look for signs of an engine plug weeping while you have it apart. If it’s a plug towards the outer side of the block, I could see air flow from the spinning flywheel/pressure plate maybe flinging the seepage outward versus getting into the clutch assembly itself.
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'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
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DanHoug
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 7:11 pm    Post subject: Re: bell housing caked with grease but the pressure plate is dry? Reply with quote

jlrftype7 wrote:
I would expect Gear Oil to smell like gear oil, even dried a bit mixed with dust.


'zackly. rub some on your finger and pick yer nose. should tell you if it is motor or gear oil. but really, it seems there's always a tell-tale pattern on either the flywheel side of the engine or on the tranny case. time for pictures!!!
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wehrbüchse
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 10:21 pm    Post subject: Re: bell housing caked with grease but the pressure plate is dry? Reply with quote

You guys are right, gear oil is so terrible smelling I would have known right away. It's definitely engine oil. I used a steam cleaner on it this afternoon before taking apart and cleaning all of the bushings for the crossover shaft etc. Gear oil wouldn't have come off so easily. Still kinda mystified how none of it got on the pressure plate, clutch or flywheel. And I'm still not looking forward to figuring out why I've got so much oil blowin past the rear seal :/
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74 Thing
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 11:15 pm    Post subject: Re: bell housing caked with grease but the pressure plate is dry? Reply with quote

It is usually a breather problem or lack of breathing so the pressure pushes the oil its way out the seal instead. Check your breather lines.
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MarkWard
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 09, 2025 4:27 am    Post subject: Re: bell housing caked with grease but the pressure plate is dry? Reply with quote

To save time, I have seen techs replace clutches without cleaning the bell housing. Maybe this is residue from a previous install?

I use a quality sealer in place of the bell housing gasket. Haven’t had an issue. Victor Reinze comes to mind.
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