[Healeys] BJ8 Large oil consumption

[Chris Dimmock]

Larry is right.
Degrease your engine. Allow it to dry. Then, when your wife isn't home, borrow
her talcum powder...
Lightly sprinkle the talcum powder around the engine. Start the engine and
allow it to run for like 2 minutes.
Look for moisture in the talcum powder. Keep sprinkling higher.... Until you
find the leak. Alternatively, do it one area at a time.
Worst offenders are the rocker cover gaskets, side plate gaskets etc
The other reason you get rapid oil usage is lots of short trips, followed by a
long trip.....
Best
Chris

Sent from my iPhone

> On 27 Jul 2014, at 7:49 pm, Larry Varley <varley at cosmos.net.au> wrote:
>
> Niels, the car should not consume that much oil, however from the images
this does not seem to be a fully restored car. You sound frustrated buy the
scope of the problems, remember this is a very old car and you have to work
through problems methodically. Or have the whole car thoroughly restored. The
leaks from the rear axle are a minor problem, and not difficult to fix. You
need to thoroughly clean the engine, do some short trips and see if the oil
consumption is from leaks or the engine consuming it. Just because it was the
engine was restored recently does not mean it was done correctly. Most Healeys
will leak some oil, however while the leak can be messy, it doesn't relate to
the oil consumption your talking about. A teaspoon of oil makes a big oil
puddle. Look to where the leaks are coming from, hopefully not into the bell
housing from the rear crank main seal! If you have lots of leaks work through
them 1 by 1. The diff oil leaks can be fixed in a weekend with a few gaskets
and seals, not a big deal.
> Cheers
> Larry