oil leak on 59 A

trucker 46

trucker 46

Junior Member
Rebuilt and had rotating assy. balanced on my '46 1/2ton Mercury. Have to leave country for several month, before I had chance to install the engine.
Primed the oil system with non detergent motor oil and fill the crankcase with
!0w motor oil up to lifter level.
My question is: is it normal to have oil drip from rear main seal area? (brand new Fel-pro rope seal).
 
I'm not sure what you mean by "10w oil up to lifter level". Did you fll the engine with oil till it filled up the cam gallery? If I recall correctly, the main seal involves a slinger. Oil filled above the crankshaft level would not be good for running and would leak out when stopped.

It shouldn't have more in it than the high mark on the dipstick, but perhaps I don't understand what you mean.
 
Sorry, I should have said I filled engine up to cam gallery with 10w oil for storage purpose only, since it is going to sit on stand for six month or so. No, I am not going to run the engine when installed in the truck.
 
oil level is very high and it will leak out rear main seal. put a drip pan under it and forget about it until you return, drain oil, fill to normal level, pull plugs and let engine roll over to get oil pressure and prelube the engine and then fire it up. we just drained over 6 gallons out of a 8RT engine that had been stored, filled up with fresh oil and fired it up, nothing was stuck!!
 
Ya it is dripping just siting on the engine stand, which surprised me, visioning that I have to pull it apart again. Engine was not started after rebuilt. I was hoping for something what "alanwoodieman" said. Thanks. Ya, in the old country, we always filled rebuilt engines full of 10w oil, if they would be stored, so sorry if I didn't explained my self properly! This is my first flaty so I am not to familiar with rope seals. Didn't think that the oil gets by the seal, but I noticed, there is a spiral cut in to the crank to force the oil back in to pan, when engine is spinning. I also noticed, that when I was priming the oiling system, before installing oil pan (I use chevy 350 oil pump with drill) that there was lots of oil leaking round the base of oil pump, where it meets the block. So I installed "O" ring in first grove at the top of pump, which fixed the problem and gained 7lbs of oil pressure!
 
4 or 5 qts fills the engine. If you put to much
in it will run out the rear into the trans adaptor
housing. 20/50 works best i9n these engines.
G.M.
 
Filling the engine with oil to the cam shaft was excessive even for "storage purposes". Your engine would not have gotten stuck just sitting for a few months. I have let some of my flatheads sit for months with out starting them and I don't fill the engine up with oil.

I would drain out the oil and fill with 4 to 5 quarts as G.M. has suggested.

I like your Mercury pickup. I don't think I have ever seen one in person.
 
Last edited:
trucker 46 said:
Sorry, I should have said I filled engine up to cam gallery with 10w oil for storage purpose only, since it is going to sit on stand for six month or so. No, I am not going to run the engine when installed in the truck.
Click to expand...

No need to apologize. It's simply amazing (to me) that so many people here did not understand the gist of your original question. You made your purpose quite clear in your very first post, which also made the circumstances obvious. Mmmm mmm mm! DD
 
I've seen folks fill old engines as full as the oil filler would let them get. Some old savage operators would even fill the water jackets and the intake manifold with old oil. They didn't want any rust in there and they were being stored outside in the weather so they just filled them with old oil.
 
Just a thought, if stored outside and exposed to the weather, water will displace oil as it is heavier. Not suitable protection.
 
Thanks for a tip "37 truck", I had no intentions and would not even dream to have the engine outside, it is in my house garage but I live in very damp area, especially in winter, and that is when I'll be away.
 
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