Oil Leak ... Oil Cooler or Seal Failure?

[Snoopy1971]

Hi SambaLand!

What is everyone’s opinion on what the issue could be that I’m having.

I have a ’68 Bug with what the previous owner claims is a 1600 in it. It is dual port, and the number on the engine indicates that it started life as a 1500 from a ’67 (H0 Case). Non-Doghouse fan shroud.

I recently developed an oil leak on the driver’s side, where the oil is dripping from above onto one of the pushrod tubes of Cylinder #3. See Pic below (you can see the slight oil residue on the pushrod tube):

Here is a vid of it in action. You can see it drip on the pushrod tube, and just slightly to the left, can see it dripping from above directly down onto the tin below, pooling up on the tin.

https://youtube.com/shorts/xPNDimsrNgA?si=-WGNYaRVNYmFhCq4


What could be the possible causes? I guess one or both of the oil cooler seals could’ve taken a crap … or the cooler itself. Other than seeing a visible hole or crack in the oil cooler, I’m not sure how you tell if it’s the cooler itself.

Another theory that somebody floated to me is that one of the head studs on cylinder #3 is either broken or loose and not torqued down all the way.

Thoughts?


I’m pulling the engine this weekend to inspect… first time doing that.
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1968 Bug

[halfassleatherworks]

Are you getting a popping sound from the Eng. under load? Your video looks like you have a loose head with combustion gasses leaking over the pushrod tubes. between the head and cylinder, If the cooler was leaking you will see it if you pull the fan housing, any oil on it other then at the very bottom were the seals are is a sure sign its leaking. PS does the oil that is leaking have a gas smell if it does that points to the loose head also.

[Snoopy1971]

[jinx758]

Agree with above ... and -

Simple compression test mite show low compression.
Worthwhile time to determine pulling engine or just fan shroud. MUCH easier to get to lower 2 fasteners without cylinder in place but a geared floppy wrench is your friend.
Torque values need to be correct.
Also there are actually 4 oil cooler seals (winky emoji)

Good luck ... stay safe

jinx
_________________
" It's not valuable unless you learn something from an experience. " Henry Ford

It's not unlike the same difference ...

My Craigslist rescued 100 footer :
1971 Standard Bug
1776cc dual port
034 distributor
38mm EGAS Carburetor

[Cusser]

[jinx758]

I'd like
"Things I miss when I skim read for a $1000, Alex" !

No bonus round for me ... stay safe

jinx
_________________
" It's not valuable unless you learn something from an experience. " Henry Ford

It's not unlike the same difference ...

My Craigslist rescued 100 footer :
1971 Standard Bug
1776cc dual port
034 distributor
38mm EGAS Carburetor

[74 Thing]

Get a bucket of water and your air compressor or a bike tire pump and pull the oil cooler with the cooler adapter and put it upside down into the water with the oil holes facing up and pump some air into it-if there is a crack in the cooler or in the oil cooler adapter you will get bubbles in the water.

If one of the 4 seals is torn or slightly torn it should be obvious when you remove the cooler and the the adapter and visually inspect the seals.

Finally there can be a crack in the engine case. There is an oil passage way that runs behind the distributor to the oil cooler on top of the case. Clean that area well and then take a propane torch or whatever you have and heat the case. If there is a crack it will become exposed with the heat (be careful of left over gas from the fuel pump).

[viiking]

[mukluk]

Looks to me like a leak from a loose cylinder head.
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1960 Ragtop w/Semaphores "Inga"

[Snoopy1971]

OK, so I pulled the engine. Pulled the fan shroud off ... Some dirty oil residue:

The weird thing is, if it's the oil cooler seals, I would expect them to be cracked somewhere but they werent. They were hard as anything, but maybe they get like that from the heat.

So a friend of mine had an extra used VW oil cooler and a pair of new seals that he got in an extra parts batch he recently got.

My cooler is on the left, the VW cooler on the right. I can see that mine has 10mm ports and the VW one has the 8mm ports that match the 8mm ports on the block. I see on the VW cooler, the ports are recessed into the cooler more:

Here are the seals I removed ... on the left and the new seals from my friend on the right. Both 8mm ID:

So, correct me if I'm wrong ... with a cooler with 10mm ports, you have to use the stepped seals correct? The ones that are 8mm on one side and 10mm on the other side? I honestly cant tell if the ones I removed are stepped or not. They kind of look the same 8mm seals as the other ones. If the wrong seals were in, not sure why it took so long to have an issue. Ive had the car 5 years, the previous owner 1-1/2 years, and the guy he bought it from did the engine work.

[Cusser]

Yes, the rubber seals will harden over time.

Yes, you're in this far, I'd remove the upper tins and re-torque all the cylinder head nuts. It would be up to you if you wanted to pull the cylinders away a tad -if they come loose - and install new pushrod tube seals. You may find that some cylinders will stick to the heads and you'd have to re-seal there, or that your case might have pulled threads as the "H" cases had a history of doing that (needing case savers).

As to the oil cooler - if my engine, I would use the oil cooler with the 10mm holes. If my engine case holes were only 8mm, then use step seals.
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

[Snoopy1971]

[Cusser]

[Snoopy1971]

[Snoopy1971]

So I got the 8mm/10mm stepped seals. Are they supposed to look like this on the cooler? The recess for the ports in the cooler don't look deep enough, and the seals look like they are sitting too high to me.

This is the cooler I removed from the car. I assume it's an aftermarket cooler with 10mm ports since it has no VW stamp on it, but after ordering a new cooler from West Coast Metric, it ended up being out of stock there, so I then ordered one from CIP1, but it hasn't arrived yet... So I'll see how the recesses compare on the 2 coolers.

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1968 Bug

[KTPhil]

You have to pay attention to the recess/offset of the ports and mounting tabs, and choose seals and washers (or none) depending on what you find. Here is one of many diagrams, for example:

I would check all these links so you are 100% sure when you assemble things.

https://www.google.com/search?q=thesamba.com+oil+c...client=img
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Current Fleet:
- '71 Fastback
- '69 Westfalia
Retired:
- '67 Beetle
- '65 Beetle (x2)
- '65 Bus
- '71 Squareback

[Snoopy1971]

[Snoopy1971]

I got a new oil cooler from CIP1 ... anyone ever hear of this manufacturer? Made in Denmark.

I know some coolers have bosses and you dont have to use the spacers (washers) ... whats everyone think here ... no bosses? lookes flat right? Kind of hard to tell, like there is a slught boss at the base of the studs.

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1968 Bug

[viiking]

[Cusser]