VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 216 with no oil leaks

Hey All,
I keep seeing people posting that the 216 will leak no matter what. Well, I may be speaking a bit prematurely, but I believe I have completely stopped all leaks on mine. I havent seen any oil leaking in the past week I have been driving her. She's bone dry. The trick I found was proper gasket seating, Blue RTV silicon, and a bit of finesse. But it can be done!

-Davis38

Davis38....sounds good !...tell us more. I too hope to have stopped a rear rope seal leak following Genes tips and also being very careful on ressembly of the other gaskets. Don`t have enough miles on my 40` yet to really know , but will report on my situation in a month or so when I get it out of winter storage in NC.......where were your leaks? - Martinomon

Why is the vent tube not dripping oil?

Do ya have 5 quarts of oil in it?

Congrats! On a good sealing job.
You and Steve must have got a good thing going.

I re-build three 216 and no engine leaks. the transmision is another story. I would stay away from blue sylicone as it can clog oil lines.I use permatex #2.

A $20 PCV is the best investment ever. You can always put the vent tube back, in 2 minutes it will be back orginal. No more dripping oil out the vent tube. HOORAY

It is not common for the vent tube to drip oil. An engine that has this problem has some thing else causing it.
My 1934 did not even have the baffle and never dripped.

A couple of years ago I posted that my vent tube did not smoke but did drip oil if it set in the garage after a drive. Almost everyone said they ALL do that,don't worry about it.I've never seen one that didn't drip. The engine uses no oil and does not smoke,but the rear main does drip every once in a while.

I remember that . Only the ones that said they had a leak responded. If the engine has a lot of blow-by it can leak A new set of rings and perhaps a rebore job would then be necessary.

Wouldn't the engine smoke or use oil if it needed rings? The engine runs great.

Not if its the compression rings that are bad. The blow-by pas thecompression rings is more than the original breather system can handle. The interior crankcase pressure builds up and mor pressure is blowing out of the tube and taking oil with it.

You can have compression blowby with the oil rings still doing their job.

Where does the hose from the PCV end up? Where is it routed to? Does it just discharge to atmosphere?

One end goes to the PCV valve and the other is on the intake manifold. It works just like any modern day engine . The engine burns the fumes instead of having the drip tube DRIP..grin. Try it. What can you lose? $20 at the most. I've had mine for a couple of years, I love it.

Check out the brass tee.

Steve,

When did you get a 216? This is not about a heavily modified, sealed up with silicone and masking tape engine (whatever). You don't qualify here because your 235 gives you no standing. And, you have plugged it up tighter than a cheese diet, anyway.

The question is: Will a regular newly rebuilt engine drip oil.

Will the answer is an emphatic NO it will not. Not at first, that is.

But give it 10 miles or so and the oil will begin to seep by the front and seals, the cork side pan, oil pan and the valve cover gaskets. Then it is only a matter of time before it will over or under or through these gaskets enough to drip oil. There is no way, without radical modification to prevent this. And it will happen real soon.

The 216 engine's design was not engeneered to prevent this. Accordingly there is nothing to prevent the leaks after the engine has been run for a suitable length of time to effect the saturation, et al. It's mere physics. Nothing more. Hot oil will eventually escape cork and rope seals. The 216 can't help but drip by the time the rings are set, or so.

All of you who brag that your regular gasketed 216 engine does not leak may have done one of the following:

1. Never put oil in it.
2. Never driven it anywhere, 'cept round the block now and then.
3. Never put more than 100 miles on it.
4. Exagerated the length of the fish that got away. Yeah, that too.

The 216 is the reason why that shop drip dry stuff was invented. Is too!

Tell you what, you guys who say your 216 doesn't leak, back that old non-dripper out of the garage, sweep the floor below where the engine is normally sits above, take the car for a warm up drive, get it up to normal temps, stop before you pull it back in, go get your wife's wedding dress, lay it on the floor (put some butcher paper down first if you want too, then drive the car in and forget about it. Try that. Assure your wife that the dress will be just fine. Easy. After all she bought your story about the fish, right?



Mercy and heavens to Betsy,
Charlie

I believe the same is true for the 235. When I had our 54 for sale a man came to look at it. When I backed it out of the garage he said "there is an oil spot on your garage floor. What is the problem?" I told him there was no problem. That just lets me know there is oil in the engine. If it isn't leaking oil you don't have oil in it.

I hear the same is true with a Harley.

Charlie, thank you for reassuring me that my newly rebuilt (450 miles)216 is preforming as it was engineered.

Charley:

Now I feel a lot better about my 48 sitting in the garage with a kitty litter pan under it. At least her old 216 doesn't leave 9" puddles of oil anymore - they're down to about 3" when I park her.

Regards:
Oldengineer