oil leak

[dickymint]

I have an oil leak! There seems to be a crack just forward of the bell housing in the centre of the Vee.
When i throttle it oozes out. Only a small drop at a time and not at any great pressure. I,m assuming that the crack is in the cover plate and the actual leak is elsewhere but i cant be sure of this without a decent drawing of the engine.
Does anyone know of any good drawings or photos on the net?

[shpub]

Sounds like the valley gasket. Might want to check that the breathers are OK and breathe. If they don't then the engine will pressurise and that is one of the places where it will leak. Cleaning the pipse and filters etc should cure it if it is the problem which sounds the case.

Steve

PS Happy Birthday and thanks for the kind words.

[dickymint]

Okay just removed breather filter and hose to plenum (by torchlite!!) filter was minging and the hose also full of congealed crud and lots of horrible fluids!
Not totally blocked as i could blow through them. After cleaning it was far easier to blow through.
Questions are:-
1. What does this system actually do?
2. How come considering, the fluids in the hose, its
not all ended up in the firing chambers via the
the plenum?
3. If this is the cause of my oil leak am i being to
optimistic in thinking that it will stop?
4. Is there an air void under the "valley cover" or
is there oil. If oil then can i just repair what
appears to be a crack?
Im asking these questions cause i still cant find a good drawing to see whats what.

Hope you can help cause the batterys gone in me torch
and im loosing sleep over it

[dickymint]

Ps. Almost forgot to say, my tickover was at 1000rpm (high because when my cooling fans cut in there is a drop to about 800) tickover after cleaning filter etc. has dropped to 700rpm! is this indicative of blocked breather system?

[jmorgan]

From the oily pages
www.rover-v8.co.uk/
And from RPI
www.rpiv8.com/faq-gen.htm
Am I right in assuming that all that is under the vally cover (?) is the piccy from the RPI link although hopefully a lot cleaner and not pressurised?

[GreenV8S]

dickymint said: Okay just removed breather filter and hose to plenum (by torchlite!!) filter was minging and the hose also full of congealed crud and lots of horrible fluids!
Not totally blocked as i could blow through them. After cleaning it was far easier to blow through.
Questions are:-
1. What does this system actually do?
2. How come considering, the fluids in the hose, its
not all ended up in the firing chambers via the
the plenum?
3. If this is the cause of my oil leak am i being to
optimistic in thinking that it will stop?
4. Is there an air void under the "valley cover" or
is there oil. If oil then can i just repair what
appears to be a crack?
Im asking these questions cause i still cant find a good drawing to see whats what.

Hope you can help cause the batterys gone in me torch
and im loosing sleep over it

Valley gasket can be taken off and resealed but you'll have to take the inlet manifold etc off to do it - quite a lot of work. If the breather is getting blocked, the crank case will pressurize and oil leaks will spring up in all sorts of places. Sorting the breather may well magically cure the oil leaks so I'd try that first. There will normally be a fair amount of gas and oil mist coming out of the breather and getting sucked into the engine and burned, the crud you can see is just what's been left behind. Far more than that will have been going into the engine. If you have had breathing related problems and the idle is playing up at all, I'd suggest you clean the throttle butterfly and reset the base idle, and clean the idle stepper motor before looking any further.

Hope this helps,
Peter Humphries (and a green V8S)

[dickymint]

just got home from pub and a bit tiddly! read responses but cant take it all in so will sleep on it.
but i know my wedge will do her stuff and get me to workk in the morning as she does time and time again.

[dickymint]

Had nightmares about that photo on RPI site
paranoid about it as i know how many times ive overheated over the years.
Still not sure if oil is supposed to be there or is that cooked oil from a leak?
After last nights impromptu party ive thrown a sicky today. Pity its raining though, really must get a garage.
Any more answers or piccys out there guys?

[dickymint]

Well ive finally figured out what this "valley gasket" is all about! i didnt realise that the whole tinny thing was the gasket! So the answer is yes there should be oil under it, i guess to lube the valve rod thingies!

So ive sealed the crack with araldite (theme tune from the good the bad and the ugly springs to mind but then ive seen worse cowboy jobs than this)
hopefully no more leaks anywhere else untill i can fit new one.

Cheers all.