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MG TD TF 1500 - Drip, Drip, Dribble

Hi Gang;

With a little over 11K on my engine rebuild and a recent 200+ mile round trip to the GOF South (including a little time on the Sebring track) the deposits on my garage floor splash pan are changing from a drip to a dribble. It is either the front seal in the transmission or the dreaded rear seal in the engine. If it is the transmission it may give me final reason to change to the dreamed about five speed installation. If it is the engine seal I know what I need to do but I have a question, "is there anything new out there?". When the engine was rebuilt we discussed the new Moss seal but I decided against it which I hear was the right choice. Has anyone come up with another "fix" for the seventy year old technology?
Dick McCutcheon

If you are dealing with drips or dribbles don't mess with it. There are those of us who are dealing with streams. the car was made to drip. thats how it keeps it's oil fresh over the life of the oil change period :-)
Chris Couper

I must aggree with Chris here...every British car I have ever owned has done this ....it's a handy way to check the oil without lifting the bonnet!
Simple ...no puddle...no oil...open bonnet and add some "engine sluge" (20W-50)!
God had a hand in the design/engineering here...He would like us to "give-back" to the earths supply of oil by leaving some when we park!
On those busy days, it helps Him keep track of where we have been!
Cheers,
David
David Sheward

Dick,

I know the above answers were said in fun (sort of) but there's no need for oil spots on your garage floor. I'm using the Moss Kit on my TC - bought it before I heard it wasn't any good, installed it myself before I heard how critical the alignment was, and before I learned how poorly the oil seal material stood up to high rpms - but you know what? By gosh and by golly it works fine for me.

However, there is another method being used by XPAG/XPEG owners - go to http://mg-tabc.org/techn-up/xpagseal.htm and read that write-up. I haven't tried it yet (obviously) but I'm planning try it on the next TC I restore.

By the way, Sebring was a ball, wasn't it? I was the poor primrose TC parked on the side of the track during the second lap - rotor exploded on me - but up and running fine now. I did enjoy it enough I've decided to buy another TC basket case and resurrect it for vintage racing (hence this fix is going on the new engine).

See you at Sebring in a few years.
Gene
Gene Gillam

Dick,

One other fix that's supposed to work and involves NOTHING new is to shorten the rear main bearing cap pipe by a couple of inches so it won't siphon the oil back up the pipe as the engine cools (supposedly when most of this oil leakage happens). This is a fix suggested and sworn to by Joe Curto - http://www.geocities.com/jcurtoinc/ .

Good luck.
Gene
Gene

I am in the process of restoring a TD. Thankfully the previous owners never fixed the oil leaks. Underneath the sludge that covered the chassis (back to about the forward spring hangers) it was in great shape. All the bolts just undid without the usual "busted nuckles" that occurr when taking apart a 50 year old car. If only the rear axle oiled the chassis in the same manner.
I have Lagonda of similar age that drips oil also. Occasionally if I am parked on a slight incline it will drop a plate size puddle. This usually happens in the diveway of someone who has just laid new interlocking brick. I have started to carry round a small drip tray in the trunk. Not an ideal solution but I am not losing friends this way.
Tony Cove
Tony Cove

Dick, Some US T-owners swear by Lucas oil stabilizer. I haven't yet tracked down a UK supplier, but still trying.... AB
Adrian Bennett

I've tried the Lucas product -- the only result was that I paid more for the oil puddle under my car.
Scott McCoy

This thread was discussed between 24/05/2002 and 30/05/2002

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