[TR] Oil leaks

[Dave1massey at cs.com]

In a message dated 9/7/2008 3:42:38 PM Central Daylight Time, 
diggle at clear.net.nz writes: 
> Everything that holds oil leaks.
> My diff, gearbox with overdrive and engine are the culprits.
> What kind of engine seals give the best result. Browsing Moss Europes site I
> see that there are two types, a new tyrpe with different seals and the the
> standard ones.
> How do I best minimise my leaks.
> 
The two culprits are the dried up seals and the rotating surfaces upon which 
they ride.  Replacing the seals but not fixing the grooved surfaces against 
which they are supposed to seal will result in short term results.  There is one 
seal manufacturer here in the states that makes a product just for this 
problem.  Chicago Rawhide makes a product they call SpeediSleev(R) that is a 
stainless steel sleeve that is a tight fit over the original part and provides a 
fresh, smooth surface for the seal.  There may be a manufacturer in your county 
that does the same thing.  Or a distributor that carries this or a similar 
product.

Anectdotal evidence:  I put fresh seals in the diff of my TR6.  Although I 
initially had good results, the pinion started leaking soon thereafter.  Some 8 
- 10 years later I had pulled the diff again (for some other reason) and took 
the opportunity to sleeve the pinion flange.  Result: even with the 10 year 
old seal that had bee leaking before the leak stopped.

They may not have sleeves for all the applications you have but for those you 
do have I recommend these.

BTW, if you have a TR6 the front crank seal works against a distance piece.  
A new distance piece is cheaper than the sleeve so get one of those instead.

Cheers

Dave