Morning all,
I seem to be suffering with oil leaks. I fitted one of those British made breather thingies from the usual place a few months back. The bottom of the engine had always been pretty oily (but it never left any drips) and I thought a new breather might help. When I fitted this breather I also powerwashed the engine which I think pushed the metal oil feed to head pipes over the edge. They were pretty crusty when I looked at them so I replaced them with one of the nice braided hose ones.
Well to cut a long story short I still have leaks. I think it's coming from the pushrod tube seals, but what I really want to know is has anybody else used one of these breathers and had any troubles with it, as that seems to be when the real leaks started.

See here

http://www.aussiefrogs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60285

Fitted one the other month for someone but cant say that it caused any problems or not.

How is the compression on your engine , worn rings will cause oil leak

also if the car has overheated the oil seals become hard and so dont seal as well

You can try to reposition a leaky seal while the engine is running by pushing on the matal cups with a long screwdriver.

Going to the National?

Sean

Hmm, very interesting. I'll have a go at that. Cheers.



It's just had barrels and pistons, with some heads from Geoff and new seals. Unfortunately it's leaked before and after this bit of surgery. Ever since I put the breather on to be honest.



Reckon I'll have a crack at that if the manometer test thingy goes alright.



Bit of a sore point in our house at the mo. Unfortunately it's me birds birthday and I suspect she's got something more romantic in mind. Can't see the problem personally. Selfish cow.

what's wrong with a bacon butty & a pint of best whilst sitting on a deckchair? you even get to watch the sunset... what could be more romantic?!

Lenny

after sleeping on it the breather _could_ be at fault

you can either test with a manomiter, 1st reply on the post shows the basic principal but heed unkle Kens notes on 2cvgb

or dismantle the unit and make sure that there is no swarf or burrs stopping the reed valve from seating properly

If all not, who did the work? new seals used? care taken to not catch the pushrod tubes?


Sean

Oh dear,
Just made a 'manometer' and tested it. At idle it's fine. I've used LHM as the fluid and it is sucked a good 60mm up the tube. The problem comes at high revs. At high revs the fluid is pushed a good 60mm down from the original level.

Should I get hold of a compression tester to make sure everythings fine in there before I condemn the breather?



I did the work myself. I've had a few engines apart before and never had probs. Really enjoyed the simplicity and logic of the 2cv engine to be honest. I used new seals throughout and was careful with the pushrod tubes so they should be okay I hope.

If you had just put new rings in a used barrel id be advising a comp test but as its new set id not go out and buy a compression tester just on the off chance

If you have done your manomiter properly and its going positive at high revs then im afraid it looks like the reed valve aint doing its job properly.

You close enough to nip over to National without disturbing the burd? Ive got family and babies and children all turning up so you could get her all broody... while we have a poke at the oily stuff?

Oh and dont discount timing it,strange as it may sound, can cause leaks if is too far advanced.

Sean

At idle...



..and at high revs.

Poking around oily bits sounds like a dream but we're a long way from sunny Cambridgeshire unfortunately. I've not given up yet. Might surprise her with a Saturday night in Cambridge yet (followed by a Sunday in a field full of Citroens obviously.)

Lenny,
if a compression test gives much lower results than the 175 psi which should be seen at cranking speed with 9.0:1 pistons, then that would suggest that the rings aren't sealing very well.
The thing is that if you're getting enough 'blowby' to pressurise the crankcase at light throttle/high revs, it's going to be much worse when the engine's under load.

Clutching at straws time...
A friend of mine thought his new style breather unit was U/S, until I had a look under the bonnet of his car and noticed that the tube between the breather and the air filter was kinked so badly that no air could pass through it.

ken