I guess it's rack time for you then !
Be sure to clean out the res carefully, and flush lines and all that.
Some engineer once said 'it is the nature of fluids to leak.'

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Allan Streib
Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2007 5:43 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: leaking oil at filler tube

Looks black.  And looks like it was smeared on the outside, but could
have squeezed out and then been smeared.

I see that bus depot sells the gasket, but for something like this
I'll probably make my own.

It's not a big enough leak that I'm going to worry about it right
away -- I have higher priority stuff to take care of first.  The
steering rack leak that I mentioned yesterday is more serious than it
first appeared, there is now about a 6" puddle under the car whereas
it was only a couple of drops when I first noticed it.

Allan

On Dec 2, 2007, at 8:36 PM, Scott Daniel - Shazam wrote:

> I believe there's a paper gasket that goes there.
> I would never use RTV - what color is it , blue ?
> I never ever use that stuff in engines.
> I will use black really good stuff - the one I like I get from Toyota.
> On clean surfaces without a gasket, it seals perfectly.
> On a used paper gasket it seals perfectly.
> There is no way to advance the situation without removing the
> offending
> part, inspecting and cleaning, and carefully reassembling with good
> workmanship and quality materials and parts. But you knew that.
> Any attempts to add onto the outside of a leaky area are temporary or
> emergency measures at best.  Nothing at all like disassembly and
> inspection
> for starters.
> It's super easy to make a paper gasket too.
> I also just use Permaetx red High Tach in the brush-on can on both
> sides of
> a paper gasket.
> It's a really easy repair. And rewarding when the leak is gone.
> Check that the flange is flat, they can get bent from repeated
> tightening.
> File to flatness by hand if needed.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf Of
> Allan Streib
> Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2007 5:10 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: leaking oil at filler tube
>
> My motor is leaking oil (just a drop or two on the floor in the
> garage) where the filler tube meets the case.  Looks like an attempt
> was made to "seal" it with RTV, or perhaps the proper gasket was not
> at hand when the current engine was installed (it's not the original).
>
> Is this a common area of leakage (i.e. maybe there IS a gasket and it
> leaks anyway, and the RTV was globbed on later as a "fix" ??
>
> Allan
>