Leaking oil from bellhousing

Garagekulture13

Garagekulture13

Senior Member
I'm leaking oil and it's running from the hole at the bottom of the bellhousing. It only leaks while it is running but is what I would consider a serious leak. The oil in the picture is after I drove the car about 10 minutes and stopped. The car had been sitting for less than 5 minutes and made this puddle. I hear about dropping the pain and checking a tube? Any advice or information would be much appreciated. I drive my car as much as possible and the oil leak definitely keeps me worried.
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First check your dipstick and see what the oil level reads. Dropping the pan is easy so then check the bearing clearances and end play. Make sure the drain-back tube is open. Do you drive up many hills or a steep driveway?
 
The first thing to check is to see if the crank case breather is blocked. This is the tube where you put oil in the engine.

This breather must be clear of obstruction or it will allow combustion pressure to build up in the crank case and it will force oil out past the labyrinth seal behind the rear crank bearing. It will then run into the bell housing and drip from the hole with the large cotter pin in it.

people have been known to replace the original vented cap with a shiny solid chrome cap they got from a hot rod store. Others have placed a Brillo pad in the cap thinking it will filter the air going into the crank case. Varmints could also build a nest in the cap.

Tom Endy
 
Yes I drive up and down hills every time I take it out. I took pictures of inside the oil fill tube, oil fill cap, and the oil level on the dip stick. Looks like I'll be dropping the pan.
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All I can say before you drop the pan, is how steep are the hills? I really panicked after a rebuild when I drove over to a friends place to show off and had a severe puddle in his yard. But had to drive up a long steep hill. When I drove it on level ground, just a few drops.
 
PC/SR said:
All I can say before you drop the pan, is how steep are the hills? I really panicked after a rebuild when I drove over to a friends place to show off and had a severe puddle in his yard. But had to drive up a long steep hill. When I drove it on level ground, just a few drops.
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Some trucks had a check valve in the tube to keep the oil in the the truck was tilted.
 
I was told by a top rebuilder to put a golfball size of a steel or copper "wool like" type of material into the the breather cap. This material is not steel wool as we know it. It is made for cleaning up dishes and other kitchen jobs and is much courser than steel wool. I can't recall the name of the stuff.
But I don't think that is your problem I had a engine that did the same thing and in the same prodigious amounts. I was that I had forgotten to put the tube into the rear main bearing cap. I have heard of these tubes working their way out and creating the problem overnight. Good Luck!
Terry
 
You can smell the difference between engine oil and 600w transmission lube. The latter smells TERRIBLE! Dip your fingertip into a puddle of your leakage and take a sniff. If it's very pungent and reminds you of my mother's cooking (Yuch!), that's 600w. NASTY smelling stuff! If it's an oily smell, surprise! - that's engine oil! :) At least this way you can determine where the fluid is leaking from. My bet is the rear main bearing.
Do you really mean the oil is coming from the bellhousing, or is it the flywheel housing? There is a difference. Most leaking from the flywheel housing hole is caused by the rear main being too loose or the babbitt is broken. As others have said, if the drain tube has fallen out or is plugged, that will cause oil to leak from the flywheel housing. Lots of reasons for engine oil to exit here. If you really did mean the bellhousing, however, are you referring to above the wishbone ball connection?
Marshall
 
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If it is not the tube on the rear main, looks like you need the bearings worked on. When you remove the pan, be sure to look at the bearing thrust and see if it is all there or possibly broken. If you have to remove the cap to check it look close at the bearing. This looks like a broken rear main.
 
Patrick L. said:
Another source of the leak could be lack of the gasket between block and flywheel cover.
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This is a picture of what Patrick mentioned.

You can see the rear of the cam on the right...that is not a seal....the gasket is the only seal...mine was missing and like you I thought all the oil was coming from the rear main.

Much of it was coming from between the engine and the flywheel housing, but it ran down the housing and looked like it was all coming out the drain hole.

Replacing the gasket helped a lot but it still leaked some.

I bought an engine stand fixture and borrowed a stand and pulled the engine to replace gaskets and set up the bearings.

You can do it in the car, but for a first timer pulling the engine worked best for me...
 

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I have a similar leak pulling into my driveway which is a ferocious slope. I did pull the pan last year when the timing gear broke. Nothing else appeared to be wrong, these cars just do not like steep slopes. By the way, as Ken my MGB mechanic reminds me: "at least you know there is some oil in there".

Back in the day a good friend had a Series 1 Land Rover. He had to be careful not to park it with the nose pointing uphill. The early Land Rovers had almost exactly the same unsealed rear main bearing set up as the Model A.
 
Well when I got home tonight I decided to run a test. It's in the low 30s so figured the car wouldn't get hot. I let the car run for 20 minutes slightly idled up, turned the engine off and then let it sit for five minutes. In the picture is the small amount of oil that leaked out. No where near the puddle before. The prior picture was taken in my sister in laws driveway which is a steep grade down. This leads me to believe the hills may have a play in the oil leak.
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If you were parked with the nose uphill, that could be the reason it leaked so much. I would remove the pan and check the clearance on the mains just to err on the side of caution. I suggest this because, the more clearance in the bearings, the more oil will leak when parked on a hill, .001-.0015 should be the clearance of the bearing and ,004-.012 should be the thrust. Checking is just good maintenance and should be done occasionally.
 
Get one of those rear main janitors. It collects all the drips. I thought I would need to empty it often. Never need to empty. It cleans itself each time you drive up and down a hill.
 
ian Simpson said:
I have a similar leak pulling into my driveway which is a ferocious slope. I did pull the pan last year when the timing gear broke. Nothing else appeared to be wrong, these cars just do not like steep slopes. By the way, as Ken my MGB mechanic reminds me: "at least you know there is some oil in there".

Back in the day a good friend had a Series 1 Land Rover. He had to be careful not to park it with the nose pointing uphill. The early Land Rovers had almost exactly the same unsealed rear main bearing set up as the Model A.
Click to expand...

I am curious. What does a steep slope have to do with oil leaks? What would cause this?

I ask because I have a very steep driveway and leaks.
 
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