Date:         Thu, 20 Mar 2003 23:12:05 -0500
Reply-To:     David Brodbeck <gull@GULL.US>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Brodbeck <gull@GULL.US>
Subject:      Re: Spring Cleaning an Air-cooled Motor
Comments: To: Mark Belanger <belanger@fluid.com>
In-Reply-To:  <3E7A8E20.4040904@fluid.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Mark Belanger wrote:

> That was me...  Clearly they were old leaks(and old on a Ford or
> Jeep), but the point was that leaving well enough alone prevented
> expensive, unneeded work.  It's part of the Granville King school of
> thought.  He was the author of the "Jeep Bible" and felt a good oil
> leak managed to prevent rust and that was about it...

Ah, I see.  I still prefer to clean up the area, so I can assess exactly
where the leak is coming from.  There are times when I'll decide to let
it keep leaking, but at least I know what the score is, then.  Oil leaks
I don't know the cause of worry me -- I'm paranoid that way.

My Fords all leaked from the rear main seal.  Since they were automatics
(didn't have to worry about clutch contamination) it was cheapest just
to feed their habits.  The worst was a van that was, for a while,
leaking a quart every 400 miles.  Oddly enough it re-sealed itself after
a thousand miles or so of this.

--

David Brodbeck, N8SRE
'82 Diesel Westfalia
'94 Honda Civic Si