Sudden severe oil leak -- blown oil gallery plug, now fixed

[blue77bay]

Steel only here,never ever will i ever use aluminum ever again ever. All i did was check on the depth of the thread,screwed in an ally plug and it galled ,went to remove it and the hex drive rounded out,no such problem with steel,i install with loctite 565 and never look back .There are absolutely no issues with steel plugs in the case from an expansion point of view ,or any other IMHO
_________________
I like hammers. Lots of hammers. Hammers and me go way back.
A large hammer collection is like an instant problem solver
Mark tucker wrote:,wack off as needed

[jtauxe]

Interesting.

Maybe if I "lubricate" them with Curil-T they won't gall on a test fit. I don't see ever wanting to remove them once they are in.
_________________
John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD

[poptop tom]

[Wildthings]

[jtauxe]

[Blaubus]

if your alloy galled, it's because the NPT plug was not hard anodized...

I have aluminum fasteners on my engine, and they have not galled or corroded- and yes i withdrew them to check. no problem when anodized.

as far as stripping them, perhaps you can use square head alloy plugs without clearance to flywheel issues and such.

heres a source for those anodized plugs: http://www.jdaent.com/an-npt-caps-plugs.html
i too had my doubts about these, but there really were no problems! strong as f**k, and no galling or corrosion.

[poptop tom]

[Blaubus]

yeah, Jake posted on this issue in other threads. he does not use alloy or brass for NPT plugs.
whether his were zinc- i dont know. but mention his name around here and he will show up to let you know...

[jtauxe]

[Blaubus]

did i write "ally?" i dont see that

[Jake Raby]

All I can say is the plugs we sell and use I also used on my 912E engine. After 8 years and 160,000 miles they never leaked. When I pulled them out to clean the case when I freshened the engine last year they were not even corroded. I reused them.
We do not use ferrous plugs of any type.
_________________
Jake Raby
Raby Engine Development
www.rabyenginedevelopment.com
"I've never given anyone Hell, I just told them the truth and they thought it was Hell"

[jtauxe]

[jtauxe]

OK. engine out. Shroud off. Here's what I see:

There is a third plug that I had not seen with the shroud on, though it is clearly visible in the pic that Steve showed earlier, with a red arrow pointing to it.

So, now that I cleverly smeared J-B Weld over them (like that did any good -- who gave me that idea, anyway... ) I need some help making sure I know what I am looking at.

Seems to me:

Gallery plug 1: This is the one that blew out, and would get tapped with 3/8" NPT for plugging.

Gallery plug 2: Not (yet) blown out, but will also get tapped for a plug. I think this also would accept a 3/8" NPT plug.

Gallery plug 3: So, what it this? Is this one of the small ones that would get tapped out for a 1/4" NPT plug? Should I do that, or leave it alone? I have not heard from anyone that these are known to blow.

Am I missing anything?

Once this end is done, I'll do the three 3/8" ones behind the pressure plate.
_________________
John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD

[SGKent]

Hi John. While we did all ours, it is spooky doing those with the engine assembled. I might get the large ones and then wait until the engine is apart to do the small ones. Your call. There is also one between #3 and #4 if I recall and it is like a T in the line so it will be very hard to keep debris out. I might leave that one alone. The big ones seem more prone to puking I have read here and on a couple other forums.
_________________
“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[jtauxe]

Update -- Here is the final result: All five large oil gallery freeze plugs replaced with aluminum 3/8" NPT fitting. The aluminum worked just fine, and is cemented with high-temperature threadlocking compound:

Two plugs on the rear

and three at the front

I took photos of the entire process, so if anyone likes, I could post up a tutorial on this.

I must say that at times this was a bit harrowing -- definitely with some high stress moments. Drilling into the case is, as Steve said, spooky. Most of the holes went fine, but the one on the front of the case, just to the right (in the photo) of the end of the main shaft, has me worried. In the gallery is a small side passage, and it looks like it goes straight to the main shaft. I'm guessing this is the oil passage for lubricating the main bearing. It was simply impossible to keep chips out of that hole, during the drilling and later during the tapping of the oil gallery. I did the best I could cleaning it out with a bent Q-tip with grease on it, gently inserting it and withdrawing it until it came out with no more chips. But I worry...

Now - what next (after getting the engine back in)? I need to circulate the oil around at low pressure to get rid of any remaining grease, and, I hope, to get any renegade chips to end up in the oil filter or screen. After some of that, I will again change oil and filter, and clean the screen.

So, how to circulate the oil gently? I thought I would just idle the engine for awhile, but a friend suggested this technique: With the engine in gear but no ignition, drag the bus around the block a few times, forcing the engine to turn over with no pressure. I guess that could work.

What do you guys think of that approach?
_________________
John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD

[Wildthings]

If you don't have any chips in there just fire it up. I you do have any chips and can't get them out for whatever reason your bearings are likely doomed.

[jtauxe]

Why does that not make me feel more at ease?
_________________
John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD

[jtauxe]

Got the engine installed today, in sub-freezing weather. I hate working in the cold.

I ran it at idle for about 15 minutes, then changed the oil. Removed main drain plug, filter, and screen. All had flecks of metal in them, When the screen came out, a small mangled spring came out, too. It looks to be about 5 mm in diameter, and was probably 2 cm long. Any ideas where this may have come from?

I also noticed that the oil screen pickup mechanism (the inverted cup-shaped piece that the screen bolt attaches to) was a bit loose.. I don't remember this as being loose in other engines, but I don't get into the screen much. Is this a problem?

Buttoned it all back up, with cleaned screen, new filter, and fresh 20W-50 Castrol. Ran it a few miles, and it seems fine.

Except for the heat. Not getting as much air flow as I should. I used high-temp RTV on the shroud-to-heat exchanger covers to seal them on reassembly, and I'm wondering if any of that goop oozed down and gummed up the flappers. Grr. I'll have to take them off and check. It was easy to do that with the engine out and the exhaust off, but I think i can still get my fingers in there...
_________________
John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD

[old DKP driver]

5mm x 2 centimeters sounds like it could have been a 6mm. heilicoil.

Are you going to change the oil again just for Grins.
_________________
V.W.owner since 1967

[Wild Bill]