Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Front crankshaft? oil weep

Seems to have stopped now - fingers crossed but I'm not too concerned

Deja vu. After my Pyranees trip the garage petrol smell turned out to be an oil smell: small drip on the bottom of the engine at 1500 miles... to be honest the most distracting element is the smell in the garage! But will be asking the dealer to check the oil seals at next service...

It's not unknown to get a slight weap to the rear of the exhaust manifold between the cylinder and the head. This gives off fumes not unlike a petrol leak and can go practically unnoticed because the engine gets so hot it burns most of it off. Hence the smell.

I've had the crankshaft oil seal changed twice now. Oil from this tends not to go back any further than the chassis cross member at the front of the engine.

I have just been running my engine briefly with the timing cover removed. I noticed oil dripping from the two right hand (looking from the front) bolt holes which accept the cover bolts. It looks to me as though these tapped holes go into an oil return gallery.

Maybe the dripping people see, including myself, comes from these holes and not from the crankshaft or cam shaft seals.

When I removed my timing to cover to have it painted, I noticed the same oil weep during the week it was off from bottom left screw hole despite leaving screws in finger tight. Came to the same conclusion so re-assembled with thread sealant. No issues once cover back in place.

ETA: I suspect the four timing cover screws are a requirement to fully fully secure the intermediate cam mount plate in addition to the further four screws revealed when timing cover removed.
i.e. engine not designed to be run without timing cover.

Yeah! I removed my cover last week just to see how the belt was holding up and noticed the oil on all four bolts.

Wow - that's a dumb design for the block casting! S&S go to the back of the class!

It's not uncommon to have holes in engine blocks going directly into the waterjacket of the block. Lots of the bolts need to have thread sealer on them to keep them from weeping water. The same should be done for bolts that open into any cavity with oil. The cam chest may even have crankcase pressure during certain cycles of the motor and this could help to force oil through the thread if not sealed properly.

If they are open in the thread hole, get some thread sealer and coat the bolts when re-assembling the cover. Quite simple if you know ahead of time that you should seal the threads.

But I guess all of that information is in the service manual, right???? Sorry I had to go there.

I can believe this is not uncommon for rarely disturbed bolts... but checking the cambelt is a much more common task! Then again, I don't design or build engines... and yes treating these bolts is a good addition for the "community service book" aka TM!

Did they have to remove the engine to replace that front crank seal?

Mine is leaking and it is definitely the seal at the crank pinion. The machine has 512 miles on it and has been leaking since day one.





These photos were taken after 50 miles of driving and now it has 500+ and I am sure it looks worse.
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Another thought about that seal; do you think it could increase oil temperatures?