I just put my new motor in and ran it for the first time last weekend. After the initial test drive (6-7 miles), I noticed engine oil leaking from the tranny drain on the bell housing. I removed the tranny, bell housing, clutch and flywheel expecting to find a ton of oil, but there wasn't much there. You could tell on the bottom of the bell housing where the oil had pooled, but inspecting the motor, I couldn't find anything obviously wrong. Where is the oil coming from????

There appeared to be a little bit of oil in the notch at the bottom of the rear main seal, but just at the bottom. I could see some oil sitting on the small ledge where the oil pan/gasket/block come together, but again nothing outrageous. Looking at the bolts that hold the rear main cover on, I could see a little hint of oil around all of them. If I had a damaged rear main seal or a leak of the oil pan gasket, would it be obvious? I'm not exactly sure what's behind the rear cover, but I think the rear main oil galley plug is there. Since there is a little oil coming from those bolts, could the engine builder have forgoten to install this? I have pretty good oil pressure, even when the motor is warm. I'm curious to look behind the rear cover, but I don't want to open Pandora's box and end up having to pull the motor to put it back together correctly or something.

Any ideas as to where my oil leak is coming from? I'm enclosing some pictures of what I'm talking about.

Thanks!
Matt

 

Nobody has any ideas or suggestions??? TTT....

 

I think the only way to pinpoint the problem is to clean up the oil and then run it. Have you spoken to the builder?

 

I was thinking of trying to run the engine like you said to see if I could tell where it was coming from. I just have to make sure I route the exhaust away from me (had to remove downpipe to get tranny out) or else it could get hot.

I shouldn't have any problems running the motor without the clutch line or flywheel connected should I?

I haven't spoken to the motor builder. That's a long story...

Matt