Oil on belts

[zcacogp]

Chaps,

Some of you will remember that I changed the belts on my S2 last Winter. (And that I did it twice - belts once, and then again when the waterpump failed a month later ... )

They have intermittently whined since then, so I took the covers off today to check the tension. To my dismay, I discovered that there was oil on them. Clearly, this isn't good news, raising three problems;

1. Where is the oil coming from?
2. Oil on belts is not good for their life expectancy - can they be cleaned or should they be replaced? (I favour replacement).
3. Will they slip - is the car safe to drive?

Having looked carefully at them I am happy that they are unlikely to slip (there isn't that much oil around), but still need to find the source of the leak and fix it. And clean or replace the belts ...

When I did them I didn't change any oil seals on the front of the engine. Is it likely that one of these will be the source of the leak? I am guessing there are four in question; main bearing, cam shaft and two balance shaft seals (do the balance shafts have a high-pressure oil feed?) Or is it likely that the leak is elsewhere? (I am assuming that the waterpump doesn't have any connection to any oil galleries? I didn't notice any when I changed it.)

If it is a shaft oil seal, how hard are they to change? I am familiar with stripping things down to the point of getting the waterpump off - how much more is there to changing the seals?

All advice welcomed ... thanks.


Oli.

 

[chrisg]

Oili,

ring me to discuss if you need to ? I've had the front end of the engine apart a few times !

Chris

 

[zcacogp]

Chris,

Thanks again. I may just do that ... some time early next week, if that's OK?

ORIGINAL: chrisg

Oili,

A freudian slip, or a very clever joke? I am assuming the latter ... []


Oli.

 

[chrisg]

Oli

Started as a typo but then thought oooh that could be witty....

As always, happy to chat anytime, I'm not back in the country until Thurs AM - happy to chat this afternoon or evening as at home tonight,

C

 

[FistsOfHam]

Sounds like a front engine seal, something I'm in the process of replacing on my car at the moment but with my engine being out it's much easier.

I got a full set of seals from Bert at Berlyn Services but need to get some new top hats as discovered that they're quite badly worn too.

 

[Super_Marv]

Couple of years ago the engine on my 968 was leaking a bit of oil. Got my specialist to look into it and it was the lower balance belt shaft seal which was leaking. It wasn't going onto the belts, apparently, so I waited until the next cambelt change (which was actually the next year) and had all the seal and rollers replaced.

Not sure if that's much help - good luck solving the problem! Oil on the belts doesn't sound like a particularly good thing to me though...

 

[Northern924]

Expect it will be a front seal of one type or another

 

[zcacogp]

Chaps,

Just coming back to this thread; thanks for the comments. Yes, probably a seal. And I expect that it will be sensible to replace the belts as well (although they have only done about 6k miles.)

Where can I get seals from? OPC can't want *that* much for them, surely ...


Oli.

 

[Diver944]

Promax list the front of engine seal kit at £41.72 + VAT

http://www.promaxmotorsport.co.uk/products/179-seal-kit-front-of-engine-944-models.aspx

 

[zcacogp]

Paul,

Thanks. That'll be pushing £50 for four seals ... bit steep, eh? Wonder where else would be cheaper, or whether (as ChrisG suggested) they would be cheaper priced individually from an OPC. Ho hum, telephone calls ensue ...

(I note the very helpful description they have for that item. "Full description of product is required here". And a great picture of a brake caliper, dizzy cap, wishbone ball joint and mug, by the looks of it - none of which are at all relevant to sealing the front of the engine! I wonder whether they would give me a discount if I took some good photos for them ... )


Oli.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

That'll be pushing £50 for four seals ... bit steep, eh?

Seem to remember paying a lot more than that to have them replaced, including labour and VAT. I thought it wasn't too bad as a once-in-20-years job. [&o]

 

[zcacogp]

I'd fully expect to pay a LOT more than that McNulters if someone is doing it for you. I'm expecting the job to take a minimum of two hours strip down and another two hours building it back up, and that's without time to remove the seals and refit new ones. In the light of the huge slug of labour costs, £50 on a couple of seals is pretty insignificant.

However, when you think about what you are getting for your money when buying those seals, £50 is a lot. They won't be worth their weight in gold, but would be worth their weight in silver, fairly comfortably. If I knew the seal specifications and dimensions I'd be going to an engineering shop and buying them for a couple of quid each - less than £10 for the lot.


Oli.