[drumstyx]

Got a bit of a coolant smell after running for a bit, so while I've got things torn down a bit for the doohickey, I thought I'd check on the weep hole. Sure enough, there's at least coolant there, and although it's black, I think it might just be road grime mixed with it.

The thing is though, there are no *drips*, and the oil that came out smelled only of oil, no foaming, no milkiness -- no coolant.

So a couple questions:

Can this wait an oil change interval? I'd be interested to see if it maybe clears itself up, or just how bad it is, but I don't want to be dumping $30 of oil in a week, so if it must be done, I'll do it now (got the parts coming in next week)

Second, what do you think of the 'backyard mechanic' method shown here?

youtube.com/watch?v=0b1kOppUebQ

Seems to work just fine, and I didn't order a clutch cover gasket (oops) so this would be handy.

 

[GoMotor]

The youtube video method will work fine. First determine what you have leaking and how big the leak is. You can go for a long time and distance with a small seep of either or both oil and coolant. As long as the weep hole is open there will be no cross contamination because the hole is between the two seals.

If you have no oil leak, you can leave the oil seal in place.

Don't forget to screw the impeller off and on like a nut so you don't damage the o-ring on the shaft threads.

 

[drumstyx]

The mechanical seal is the pricey one anyway, at around $18 -- I'm 95% sure there's no oil, but for $4 I figured I'd add the oil seal. Same with the gasket and o-ring, they were cheap additions.

Mainly I was just wondering if sudden, catastrophic failure was something that happened, or if a slow seep either stays the same or grows slowly. Not planning to take any major trips over a couple hundred km until next year, so I'll see how it fares over an oil change interval of maybe 3000-4000km.

 

[GoMotor]

If the oil seal isn't leaking and you don't have a 100,000 miles or so on it, I would leave it alone. As in "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

If you do change it, be careful not to hang the inner lip on the shoulder on the shaft. That can cause a leak you didn't have. Consider slicing a couple of short pieces of fat soda straw and lapping then over the shoulder on the shaft like a long spear point to help slide the oil seal on the shaft. I like to pack the seal with grease and lube the shaft before installing the seal.