Fast Marina Magazine

Hi guys im new to this forum and im reallyyy hoping that you could help me as this leak is driving me mad, i have a 1275cc marina in a vauxhall viva but oil keeps leaking once it gets warm, ihave installed breathers onto the rocker cover and the camshaft breather to the carb, but still leak, good oil pressure and compression, 0smoke, no back pressure, any help?


Thanks

Nicky

So where is the leak?
behind crank pulley?
between block and bell-housing?
from the fuel-pump housing?

You need to give us a lead.

Between the block and bellhousing, it is dripping where there is the adaptor plate on the bottom

Most likely it is the rear crankshaft oil seal. From memory this is a scroll type seal and is an engine out job.

Marina engine in a Viva sounds interesting, the first Marina prototypes were Morris Minor chassis' mounted in Viva shells!

Which seal would it be, could you help me with finding one to buy as im located in Malta and i cant find parts for anything... When i tool the adapter plate off, i found no oil seal behimd the fly wheel and the engine around the crank, is there meant to be an orange one there? thanks

On a 1275 engine the oil seal is not a rubber ring type, I recommend that you buy the 1.3 Marina Haynes workshop manual as it explains it there very well. The are several Maltese Marina owners on here who should be able to advise on the sourcing of parts locally.

nicholas9917 wrote:Between the block and bellhousing, it is dripping where there is the adaptor plate on the bottom

Mine does the same - but only after a longer trip, running around town it rarely drips any oil but after a trip? - hoo boy, it looks like the Torrey Canyon had run aground in my driveway!

Fixing this is NOT an easy job but there are seal kits to retro-fit a proper seal.

Park it facing down a slope...

So in reality i have to take the sump and crank out to change the bearings? Or would i need to clean the oil out of the scroll as it was simply filthy oil once i bought and put new oil in?

nicholas9917 wrote:So in reality i have to take the sump and crank out to change the bearings? Or would i need to clean the oil out of the scroll as it was simply filthy oil once i bought and put new oil in?

Pretty much you will have to drop the sump and crank to replace the rear bearing (I assume you intend changing it because it will 'tighen' the gap between the bearing and the scroll on the crank?

If it is you might also want to replace all the bearings while things are apart.

And you could also consider one of those kits that allows you to fit a proper seal set up.

It depends how much money (and time!) you have.

If you're really broke just park facing downhill and keep topping up the oil.

Thanks guys for all the responses, found a weird streak going down from the mechanical fuel pump all the way back when i took the engine out. Found that i was leaking from there, not a single oil drip since. Honestly I appreciate the help

Glad it was a relatively simple fix. Better than an engine out job. The crankcase pressurises with oil mist, which will find anyway out that it can. It would be worth rinsing out the crankcase breather on the front timing chain cover and the rocker cover cap as the both help to reduce internal pressure.