ill 1750 - oil going everywhere + crankshaft pulley wanted

now the proud ovner of a '72 GTV, but... it's got issues

it got through a whole gallon of oil during the 70 mile drive to my house, with most of it thrown around the engine compartment. Some oil is coming out of the exhaust pipe, either as blue smoke, or droplets.

Whilst it was difficult to pin down exactly where it was coming from, as the fan blew it everywhere, i've put my money on the front crankshaft oil seal. Before taking it to pieces I did a few checks - compression is good and consistent on all cylinders (170psi +/- 5), no oil is visible in the coolant nor does it appear to be using coolant, smells like it's running rich, plugs were very sooty when I pulled them.

I then took off the bonnet, radiator, crankshaft pulley and water pump (to replace a broken piece of studding) and am now ready to replace the front crankshaft oil seal. I noticed that the pulley is cracked round the slot for the woodruff key, which probably doesnt help the oil leak problem, so I'm after an uncracked replacement pulley if anyone's got a spare.

The other unresolved problem is the oil in the exhaust. Maybe a) it's being sprayed directly into the carbs (they're open trumpets without paper/foam filters) or b) the valve guides/stem seals are knackered? Hoping it's the former and it'll be gone when the seal is sorted...

Any comments/advice welcome - it's my first Alfa and first 'old' car...

w

Hi, welcome to AO and the old Alfa ownership
What part of of the world are you from?, assuming it's the UK have you tried the usual four suspects for parts, they are... in no particular order;

Highwood Motor company.
Alfaholics.
Classic Alfa.
EB spares.

I couldn't see a crank pulley on the websites but they often carry second hand spares and I wouldn't imagine you would have too much trouble finding one.
that Oil leak sounds very serious though, I wouldn't have thought the Oil in the Exhaust is linked either, though I suppose it could be being sucked in through to intakes are the filters oiled up??

hi,

will try ringing round tomorrow - assumed they'd be shut today (?)

re. the leak: you wouldn't believe the mess it's made - fingers crossed it is being sucked through (there are no filters to check, it's just twin webbers with trumpets + mesh covers.) Bit bizarre that the plugs were sooty and not oily: guess oil might only get sucked through when it's moving enough to blow the oil into the air intakes?

i'll post developments here, fingers crossed its nothing too expensive

w

Hi Will
Welcome to AO. Sounds like you are having messy fun!
Chris at Highwood does a good line in used bits and is a very friendly and knowledgeable guy. Well worth picking his brains...
http://www.highwoodalfa.com/

Fingers crossed that the lack of oil on the plugs means that a fine vapour of oil is being sucked into and straight out of the engine and is mixing with the sooty exhaust deposits to produce the droplets.

Anything else should have shown up with either clouds of smoke or poor compression.

Make sure you refill with the correct grade of oil, I heard of a classic Jaguar being filled with a modern grade oil and it came out of the engine from every conceivable place, re-filled with 20/50 and it was fine.

Best of luck.

Ricksalfas - I spoke to Highwood on the phone and he was well helpful. Parts should be winging their way to me later today. thanks for the recommendation

Spider105 - that was my thinking too... fingers crossed that's the way it'll play out. I've got HPX synthetic 20W-50 for the refill - I use it in my integrale and it is amazing stuff!

thanks for the advice guys

w

No problem. Good luck with it!

Look on the bright side - Most of us are now envious of how well rustproofed your car must be...........!

a brief heads-up:

- fixing the crankcase breather issues and replacing the front crankshaft oil seal seems to have sorted the oil problems. none is coming out the exhaust now, which is sweet

- i stripped down the carbs (40 DCOE 44/45 pair, originally off a zagato junior 1600 as far as i can tell) and they need some new bits and pieces. there is a bit of petrol leaking out of them. until i get the parts, however, i balanced them using vacuum gauges and then adjusted and checked the float height, cleaned everything out, etc. need a new choke linkage bit as one was siezed up and is broken on one intake. tried to adjust the idle fuelling but am going to wait until the carb is repaired before doing it seriously. carbs were spitting so advanced the timing a bit, seems to have improved matters

- handbrake mechanism has packed up on one side. got a stone stuck i think, the metal components are all twisted and broken, the cable snapped, linings have come off the pads. drums are ok though.

- mended some electrical problems

- mended leaking petrol tank at back. the tank needs repainting as leaking petrol has dissolved the paint on top.

- slightly overheated on the motorway. this could have been because of several things i think, maybe too retarded ignition, the handbrake binding problem, or rad needs a flush.

- need to sort the suspension, rear beam feels like it isn't attached to the car... alfaholics handling package and possibly some new bushes needed...

w

Sounds like good news :xmas:

With regards to the rear end sounds as all the bushes need replacing, check the wheel bearings as well.

Hopefully the slight overheating is due to timing/carbs, when you took the rad out to do the oil seal did you flush the system? It might be worth putting a cleaner in the system and then completely flushing the system.

Thanks for the update, sounds as if you are enjoying yourself