Stopping Leaks

Cracker39

Cracker39

Senior Member
Based on the premise that all Model As leak - unless sizable expenditures have been made to prevent same - I would like to prevent Prunella from soiling her garage floor, or embarrassing herself when visiting friends. That said, and with acceptance of the fact that I have to top her off on occasion, I have two main areas of concern - ignoring minor leaks from the shocks, steering box, and ******. First is the notorious oil filler tube blow out, and second is the rear end banjo. I know that there are several fixes for the oil tube blow out and I would simply like to know what works best before making an order or executing the fix. The oil loss is virtually nil. With respect to the rear end leaks around the banjo bolt ring, the only fix I know of is to replace the gaskets - not a job I can justify to save three or four ounces of 600 wt oil per year. The question is, has anyone ever devised a "diaper" for the Model A rear end? I'm envisioning a black vinyl (---or other) snap on cover that could contain an absorbent towel of sorts. Comments?
 
All my old cars sit over a large rubber backed bath mat when at home. Keeps the driveway and garage cleaner.

When visiting friends, I park on their neighbours driveways (just kidding).
 
With respect to the rear end leaks around the banjo bolt ring, the only fix I know of is to replace the gaskets
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Are the gaskets leaking? Or is the leak(s) from around the bolts? A Model A requires special bolts holding the axle housings to the banjo. If the bolts have been replaced w/regular bolts that can lead to oil leaks around the bolt threads.

When I worked on GMC (now Detroit Diesel) 6-71s they leaked a lot around various bolts, the fix was to remove the offending bolt, clean the threads and coat them w/non-hardening gasket goo before reinstalling. Worked every time.
 
Just a note to those that are using cardboard under their cars.
A gent that worked for me several years ago had cardboard under his modern car.
The cardboard got a bit warped with use, oil, water and time. Once after parking his car and going inside he came out to a garage full of smoke. One of his tires had caused the cardboard to flip up and rest against his exhaust. Lucky he happened to come out to the garage in time to put it out.
 
A easy fix to stop blow by from the Oil Tube:

From a copper scor'ing pad cut a piece and stuff it down the tube up against the first louver, replace the oil cap, the oil blow by will accumulate on the copper and run back into the pan. I use this on all three of my A's. Keeps the oil blow by off the firewall. Does not keep the engine from breathing properly.

Ron
 
Interesting comments about the bolts and the notorious 6-71 leaking problems! I think that any of us that worked with heavy equipment in the '70's and '80's are familiar with the 6-71. We ultimately refused to buy another American crane with a 6-71 - and we eventually substituted Cats or Cummings for just about everything - including the tugs. You couldn't find enough oil absorbent towels to safely walk on the machinery decks of the cranes. On the other hand, the Detroits were fairly reliable. I'll check to see if my banjo has the right bolts.
 
I was once waiting for one of our smaller tugs to show up at a power plant canal on the northern Gulf coast of Florida. You have to approach this area from way offshore due to the shallows. His injectors were so bad that I saw the smoke long before the boat itself came into view! 6-71s make excellent signal generators!
 
Ron in Quincy said:
A easy fix to stop blow by from the Oil Tube:

From a copper scor'ing pad cut a piece and stuff it down the tube up against the first louver, replace the oil cap, the oil blow by will accumulate on the copper and run back into the pan. I use this on all three of my A's. Keeps the oil blow by off the firewall. Does not keep the engine from breathing properly.

Ron
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Isn't there some danger that copper strands would get into the engine?
 
Ron in Quincy said:
A easy fix to stop blow by from the Oil Tube:

From a copper scor'ing pad cut a piece and stuff it down the tube up against the first louver, replace the oil cap, the oil blow by will accumulate on the copper and run back into the pan. I use this on all three of my A's. Keeps the oil blow by off the firewall. Does not keep the engine from breathing properly.

Ron
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I use a Chore Girl pad in the cap of the oil fill tube. Haven't had any blow back since.
 
bobpo1 said:

I use a Chore Girl pad in the cap of the oil fill tube. Haven't had any blow back since.
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Just bouncing this back to the top to see if anyone can address the concern about steel, copper, or other material stuffed in the oil filler tube getting into the engine?
 
the service bulletins document a couple of filler tube changes to reorient the baffle so that blowby would condense back into the crankcase. At least that is the story I remember and I am sticking to it. You might have one of the early versions so you need the chore girl, or a cotten sock over the outside of the filler tube to keep the oil mist off the engine compartment.
Bob
 
Brentwood Bob said:
the service bulletins document a couple of filler tube changes to reorient the baffle so that blowby would condense back into the crankcase. At least that is the story I remember and I am sticking to it. You might have one of the early versions so you need the chore girl, or a cotten sock over the outside of the filler tube to keep the oil mist off the engine compartment.
Bob
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I do have the latest baffle design but I would have to check again to see if theirs any special way to orient the baffles.
 
They were designed to leak. It didn't matter in 1928 whether it leaked a little. My grandfather had a dirt floor garage from 1929-1982 when he retired and move to town.
 
The copper in the scor'ing pad is course; do not believe you have to worry about copper falling back into the engine pan; at least I have had no problem of this kind.

Ron
 
You can buy a "diaper" from some of the vendors that collects the oil under the flywheel case. It is a metal type tray that bolts onto the case. (This works if you are not ashamed to have such a thing on your A)

Like mentioned, the old sock on the oil tube does work to keep oil from getting all over you rig. I used it until my engine was broken in.
 
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