It seems that no matter how hard we try, every classic English sports car leaks oil. I’ve seen many forum posts over the years where people claim to make a leak-free car, and certainly some of them leak very little, but it just seems inevitable that these old cars will leak, no matter how hard you try. And even if you stop them from leaking, it seems just a matter of time before they start leaking once again.
In this post, I wanted to show you some photos of a particular Bugeye engine that just arrived in our shop. This one is leaking more than usual, and in this case it makes a lot of sense to try to reduce or stop the leaking all together. (We’re always optimistic, but we’re also realistic).
Of note in this case is the head gasket leak. We’ve added ultraviolet dye to this engine, so you see a bright green trace wherever there are leaks (a UV kit makes it easy to see exactly where we have leaks). Take a look at the green trace on the left side of the engine. This is directly in line with the oil galley that feeds the head up through the rocker arm pedestal, and the oil as it travels from the block up to the head sometimes leaks at this location. Unfortunately, once it starts leaking, you have to change the head gasket.
We will remove the head to inspect. it could be a bad head gasket or the head is not flat (or block) or too much combustion pressure with an excessively high compression ratio, for example. Or maybe the oil pressure relief valve is not working or set too high… these are all things we will investigate when we get the engine out of the car.
The other leaks you can see from the die are interesting, as well. This is a Ford five speed transmission that was installed by the client, but we will need to remove it and figure out what’s going on with the rear main seal. You can see the track from the drain hole on the transmission and also at the seam where the transmission meets the back plate. There’s a third leak on the back of the engine where the sump gasket is leaking. This is the curved gasket that meets the crankshaft, and it’s not sealing properly. In this case, we have three different leaks at the back of the engine. To make matters worse, this engine is also leaking from the front plate and you can see the trail of UV-died oil leaking out of the front cover, as well.
Will take this entire engine part and reseal all of it, and I’m sure we can reduce the hemorrhaging. If you’d like us to sort your sprite, or classic British car, please give us a call. He’ll be happy to get it ready for your summer!
Got a leaky Bugeye? We can help! Check out the parts below to get your engine re-seal in motion, or click here for your other Spridget needs!
We sell a rear main seal kit, and also upgraded some gaskets and some gasket kits, all of which are available in our catalog. We also sell an inexpensive UV dye kit that you may enjoy using to trace your oil leaks effectively.
