Gear oil leak (1965 B40F)

[Blackthou]

Hi Phil,

Don't worry about breaking the drill bit. It will only be soft goo and much causing the obstruction. I held the bit between my thumb and finger and rotated by hand to clear out the muck, bit by bit. I only used it as far as the spiral on the drill bit then swapped to the paper clip.

Make sure you keep the last 1cm of the paperclip bent at 90deg as you don't want the paperclip suddenly disappearing inside. If you had some welding rod or similar single core stiff wire, the would do. I only had a paperclip to hand.

[Phil C]

I've yet to brave the garage (the older I get, the less I like winter!) but I think if there is an oil seepage at the bottom of my outer casing it might be, at least in part, gear oil (identified by dye, although judgement hampered by poor colour vision!) If so, then, if the drain hole is clear, some of it would drain into the sump. I guess mixing gear oil with engine oil like that wouldn't be very good. So how would gear oil get into the outer casing? I guess the only possibilities are: poor inner casing seal, faulty oil seal on shaft, or tracking along a screw thread. Is that right?    Phil

[Blackthou]

I know what you mean about the lacking of appeal of tinkering in colder weather. Everything is less enjoyable.

Your logic seems pretty sound and I'm sure a small portion of oil won't hurt. It's oil after all, only "thicker" and blended in those quantities should be fine IMO.