Advice Required! Rear main oil seal & Starter query

[300CE]

Evening all! Well, i picked up the camper from Dorset today and drove it the 160 miles home, the van drove beautifully and smoothly with no knocks, bangs or rattles and the heaters worked amazingly well with a perfect engine temperature and whilst i would like to say it was an uneventful journey, unfortunately it wasn't and there were a couple of little niggles which i was strangely expecting!

My mate who was travelling behind me flagged me down to pull into the upcoming services at Fleet (about half way home) and once stopped there said there was oil appearing onto his windscreen! We looked underneath the van and saw there was oil dripping down onto the floor. It had lost approximately 1 litre of oil which i topped back up to max and stopped at a further two services to check the levels and, whilst there was still a leak, there was luckily only minimal loss. My mate who is a mechanic has stated that it is the rear main oil seal and so i would appreciate any advice on where would be the best place to purchase a replacement and whether it is worth me getting/replacing anything else as well whilst this job is being done?

Secondly, the van struggles to re-start immediately after the engine has been turned off and turns over very slowly. Once left for a few minutes it starts, although it is still slow at turning over - the earth strap on the battery was very hot and so the next course of action is to clean this up, however, i wondered as to whether this could also be a starter problem?!

Any help and advice on the above would be much appreciated!!

And, so it goes - this is my first T25 and yeah, the dog-leg gearbox made me stall a few times and there and there were a few issues on my way home and have i got the hump, no siree!! The sun was out and I still had a grin all the way home and my 5 year old's face was priceless as i parked up onto the drive - great days ahead!!

[300CE]

Just an update with this one, after searching the super forum i've decided to get the main oil seal parts from vw heritage - i'm probably going to have a look at getting a clutch kit as well seeing as the gearbox is out. I've also found a great thread from John (ghost123uk) with regards to the starter/earthing issue and what i should be checking for. I'll post an update once the work has been done w/c the 20th April!

[sarran1955]

Hello,

Oilite bearing for starter motor

Cordialement,

[300CE]

Hello,

Oilite bearing for starter motor

Cordialement,

Cheers Sarran - i saw the threads regarding the oilite bearing and have booked marked a wiki on how to do it - something else for the list of things to do/be done

[Plasticman]

ah, glad you finaly got the van , why is the dogleg strange , most 5sp have a dog leg 4th to 5th
i ntake it the vendor forgot to menchion the opil usage/loss
mm

[300CE]

ah, glad you finaly got the van , why is the dogleg strange , most 5sp have a dog leg 4th to 5th
i ntake it the vendor forgot to menchion the opil usage/loss
mm

Haha, yeah, I was being proper rubbish with it and because of the starting problem I didn't want to stall it again so pulled away in 2nd instead!

I wasn't sure whether the seller was aware of the oil issue Mick as I gave the engine a good look over & couldn't see any prior oil spillage on the floor or around the engine at all & it wasn't until about 80 miles into the journey that it started to throw the oil out. That said, I suppose it could have been sprayed with brake cleaner or something to clean it off. Not to worry, gives us a reason to get me hands dirty and get to know the van!

Have a look on the 'what did you do to your T25 today' thread Mick as I've posted up a few pics of the old girl

[300CE]

Just an update regarding the starter issue I had - cleaned/sanded the earth fitments from the battery & she now turns over quicker & starts normally so looks like a cheap fix

With regards to the oil leak, my mate has spoken to a couple of people who have suggested that the rear main leak could be a sign the crank thrust bearings are on their way out. I've checked to see if there is any play on the crank pulley but all seems good, so am just hoping (praying) its that main oil seal. Will update next week!

[sarran1955]

Hello,

They all have the same Type of crankcase oil seal..

This :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YCecJ-J__s

Even though its a buggy, will help,

also:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLaA6flr9DA

Hope this is of use....

Cordialement,

[300CE]

Really helpful information here Sarran, thanks very much for posting this up its much appreciated

With yours and Martin's (California Dreamin) help, it'll certainly make the job that bit easier!!

Cheers, Justin.