Killer Oil Leak

Mattcleaver

Daily Driver
Thread starter
Apr 20, 2020
13
0
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if you take the cover back off, lay a straight edge across the cam and crank gears to see if they are lined up. Maybe the crank gear is on backwards ? If it sticks out farther then the balancer will not be on all the way. Also be sure to not assemble the seal dry. I always put white grease on it before i press on the balancer.
That might be our next move if we can’t figure it out. We always put a liberal amount of oil on the balancer before pressing it on. We never actually remover the crank gear from before we rebuilt the motor. All the machine work was done with the gear still in place. The motor didn’t leak before it was rebuilt so I’m assuming the crank gear is not the issue. If the machine shop that did the work for us opens back up with the coronavirus stuff, we may trailer the car there and have a professional look at it. We have a decent amount of knowledge on the topic but have exhausted all our options so maybe a professional can help.
 

Mattcleaver

Daily Driver
Thread starter
Apr 20, 2020
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Just took the balancer back off. You can see the two lines where the front and back of the seal were riding so the balancer was fully seated. I’m at a complete loss.
1F84F8FC-8E41-440D-A8A8-FF5CB11D3100.jpeg
 

prairiehotrodder

Pro Stocker
Dec 17, 2005
1,576
4
38
46
Melfort Saskatchewan Canada
maybe you are running it way to full of oil so that oil is always sloshing in the timing cover and up against the seal ? I don't know what else to tell you.
 

Mattcleaver

Daily Driver
Thread starter
Apr 20, 2020
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maybe you are running it way to full of oil so that oil is always sloshing in the timing cover and up against the seal ? I don't know what else to tell you.
I’m not sure if it makes a difference but we put a dial indicator on the snout of the crank and turned the motor over. Measured about .004 run out. The balancer and pulley seemed to spin straight though. Next thing is figuring out how to measure the clearance to the seal all the way around.
 

Killerdave8813

Dragway Regular
Jan 16, 2008
904
2
18
Cincinnati,Ohio
Any luck yet? .004 isn't much movement at all, any good lip seal would take that in stride as they're designed to deal with slight misalignment issues, what brand seal have you been using? I generally use Felpro exclusively, I was just looking at the pic of your balancer hub, looks kind of odd, that your sleeved one? You said you have purchased a new one that still leaks? You are positive it's leaking between the seal lip and balancer hub? I'd be pulling the seal out of the timing cover and very carefully measuring between the crank snout and the wall the OD of the hole in the timing cover seal outer edge comes in contact with in several different areas around the seal area of the timing cover to make sure the crank snout is actually in the center of the hole, you said the block was out of the machine shop stock as your original was damaged beyond repair? That means you really don't know exactly what's been done to this block over the years? As mentioned earlier If it's been line bored more than one time or even excessively one time that will put the crank center line deeper into the block, that is closer to the camshaft center line and that could cause your constant excessive leak as it would be heavily against the upper lip of the seal and very little pressure against the lower lip, I'm not a pro engine man by any means but I've built my share of small blocks over the years and have seen that issue a time or two so that's where I'd look next as you've exhausted about every other avenue possible that I can see, Good Luck!!
 

Mattcleaver

Daily Driver
Thread starter
Apr 20, 2020
13
0
1
23
Any luck yet? .004 isn't much movement at all, any good lip seal would take that in stride as they're designed to deal with slight misalignment issues, what brand seal have you been using? I generally use Felpro exclusively, I was just looking at the pic of your balancer hub, looks kind of odd, that your sleeved one? You said you have purchased a new one that still leaks? You are positive it's leaking between the seal lip and balancer hub? I'd be pulling the seal out of the timing cover and very carefully measuring between the crank snout and the wall the OD of the hole in the timing cover seal outer edge comes in contact with in several different areas around the seal area of the timing cover to make sure the crank snout is actually in the center of the hole, you said the block was out of the machine shop stock as your original was damaged beyond repair? That means you really don't know exactly what's been done to this block over the years? As mentioned earlier If it's been line bored more than one time or even excessively one time that will put the crank center line deeper into the block, that is closer to the camshaft center line and that could cause your constant excessive leak as it would be heavily against the upper lip of the seal and very little pressure against the lower lip, I'm not a pro engine man by any means but I've built my share of small blocks over the years and have seen that issue a time or two so that's where I'd look next as you've exhausted about every other avenue possible that I can see, Good Luck!!
We managed to figure it out! We drilled out the alignment pin holes on the timing cover, installed a new seal, installed the cover loosely, installed the balancer, tightened the timing cover, removed the balancer, torqued the bolts, and put it all back together. Must have been misaligned enough. It runs now however and we just did its first real burnout now that we have line locks installed too.
 

Killerdave8813

Dragway Regular
Jan 16, 2008
904
2
18
Cincinnati,Ohio
Good!! Glad you got it whipped! That's the only thing I could think of that could cause a problem like that!

Hey T5, How'er things? Yea I meant to mention a "loose" timing chain would be a good clue as to the possibility of excessive line boring but it got away from me, old brain gets kinda fuzzy sometimes!
 

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