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339
Take
care with excessive use of sump sealant
On
checking an RV8 for a sump oil leak, Steve Newton at Clive
Wheatley mgv8parts was surprised by what he found! It could
easily have lead to an expensive engine rebuild.
(Jan 11)
On
removing the sump Steve found that on a previous occasion
someone had attempted to reseal the sump using a sealant but
to say they had used it liberally was an understatement! Even
used moderately you find it is inevitable that some of the
sealant squeezes out as you tighten up the sump - some is
visible on the outside but a similar amount extrudes on the
inside. When really excessive amounts of sealant are used,
then a great deal squeezes out and on the inside it drops
off into the oil in the sump. In this case the large clumps
of sealant had tried to take on the job of the engine oil
by trying to circulate through the oil passageways! Ugh what
a sight - the photo shows the entry to the sump oil strainer
where the oil pump sucks up the oil through a metal gauze
filter. In this case the filter and orifice were jammed with
the orange sealant goo and there was a grave risk there would
be oil starvation to the engine because of the blockage!"
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Steve says "in fact a sealant was used to seal the sump
at the Factory but we have found it is much better to have a
fibre composite sump gasket with just a smear of grease to hold
it in place as you tighten up the sump. If there are any signs
of uneven mating of the surfaces then you can use a smear of
silicone sealer, but do use it sparingly."
Clive
Wheatley mentioned there are also cork and rubber sump gaskets
but the cork gasket can get brittle over time and the rubber
one can soften over time with the heating and cooling cycling.
He added "if the rubber gasket is tightened too much, then
it can spread which can lead to an oil leak."
You can download a printer friendly copy of the illustrated
note. More
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