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dart oil leak

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pflanaga
Posts: 117
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2016 7:37 pm

dart oil leak

Post by pflanaga »

My Dart has not run for 40 years and I have been slowly working on a restoration with things proceeding nicely so far.

A little while ago my wife noticed fluid on the garage floor below the Dart. It seems that all the oil leaked out of the sump.

The dipstick shows that the sump is absolutely bone dry. This makes me think it is the drain plug that leaked all the oil and not the front and rear seals, otherwise there would still be some fluid left in the sump.

I put two litres of oil back in and there does appear to be a slow leak near the plug but until I can jack up the car I am not sure.

Could a drain plug fail like that? It could have been a slow leak over a long period of time.

Paul

Sydsmith
Extremely Wise Man
Extremely Wise Man
Posts: 1369
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2016 11:15 pm
Location: Aberystwyth Wales

Re: dart oil leak

Post by Sydsmith »

As you say Paul it has to be the drain plug and it is surprising how much a slow drip will leak over a long period.

My15 had been standing many years in the same place when I bought it, when we got it out of the shed there was evidence of a long term oil leak on the floor under the car, when I got it home there was barely a pint in the sump and the sump plug had an old copper washer in poor condition with PTFE tape wrapped round the threads.

A new washer and an oil change and it has not lost a drip since.

I suspect the drip was slow enough for the oil to soak into the bare concrete floor and not spread out, so it went unnoticed for years. Syd

pflanaga
Posts: 117
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2016 7:37 pm

Re: dart oil leak

Post by pflanaga »

Thanks Syd. Your response pleased me. I will change the washer.

Paul

Brian-H
Very Wise Man
Very Wise Man
Posts: 1095
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 6:04 pm
Location: UK

Re: dart oil leak

Post by Brian-H »

Or just anneal the washer and reuse it - to anneal copper, heat it over a gas hob (use the smallest hob ring) until it glows orange then drop into a measuring jug of cold water.

SPortsman
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat May 01, 2021 11:42 am
Location: France

Re: dart oil leak

Post by SPortsman »

Replace the copper washer with a 3/4" BSP Dowty bonded seal .

V8 Junkie
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2018 7:49 am
Location: Dover Kent U.K

Re: dart oil leak

Post by V8 Junkie »

As above

Brian-H
Very Wise Man
Very Wise Man
Posts: 1095
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 6:04 pm
Location: UK

Re: dart oil leak

Post by Brian-H »

Nitrile was invented in the 1930's so I wonder why copper washers continued to be used, and annealing the copper washer continued to be accepted re-use practice. Make-do and mend vs throw-away.

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