Frustrated

Just Preformed a 30K on a 81 308 GTSI. Everything was great , test drove and developed an oil leak at the rear main (rear of the belt pully.

Replaced the main seal and still have a leak . It appears that the leak is coming from the area where the shaft (where the woodruf key is) . My question is : Is this leak an indication that a bearing may be going bad?

Also I have changed to a 0-40 Mobil 1 oil. I have read in some threads that this thinner oil has produced leaks (although I do not really buy into that senioro). I do not need a low vic. oil I could go with a 10-40 since I live in the Calif. desert.annual mean evening temps. in the 70's with days ranging from 80 to 120F .
any ideas on the leak .

By the way this car has sat for years with only 20K since new and less than 100 miles in 9 years.

Mike

 

Use same oil in 308 here, no leaks.

 

What you are describing is the front main seal. There are also several other seals in that area, so the first thing would be to pin down exactly where the leak is coming from. One quick "fix" may be to change to 20/50 weight regular oil. Synthetic oils seem to find a way onto the floor more readily than dino oil.

 

Using a 0/40 oil in a 30 year old car is a huge mistake. HUGE.

These cars didn't have seals designed to hold an oil this thin when they were new, much less 30 years later. Go back to a 10w, or a 20w, and call it a day.

We just went through the same thing with our Volvo. 1993, 140,000 miles, absolutely no leaks. My sister in law takes it to jiffy lube, they put in 0/40. 2 weeks later tons of puddles on the drive way. What do you expect???

Pour some 0/40 on the ground, and then some 20/50...the difference is pretty obvious...

 

I had a friend that changed to synthetic in a higher mileage van then drove to Arizona (from Iowa). By the time he got there be performed an oil change one quart at a time as the synthetic had leaked out and he replaced it with fossil oil. After that it did not leak anymore. Synthetic is great in engines that use it from new. I would just use 20-W50.

 

I've had my 308 a year. First 3000 miles I had it I ran Castrol 20w-50 (dino) and did not use ANY oil. Switched to Mobil 1 15w-50 and have went thru 2 quarts in last 1500 miles. I did not think it was leaking 'cause I don't even get drips on garage floor but have discovered it is leaking on to the front header and only leaks when it is running.

There's any easy way to test.

 

Sometimes you could have the right OD but slightly diff. ID of the oil seal which is enough to cause a leak.

 

Would debate this, but will let the recent Used Oil Analysis (UOA), the only REAL WAY to know what is happening, speak for itself. Basically, i get my oil (Mobil 0W-40 in this case) analyzed by a professional lab. They detect things in parts per MILLION...

Below is my most recent analysis and just sent in another sample last week and should get results in a week or two. Then again i track my car a lot, so we could assume normal slow-poke street driving would be much easier on the oil/engine and show even better results.

Remember, Ferrari suggest 10W-50 (or thereabouts) for a 308 and oil has come a LONG WAY since over two decades ago. It could be argued that using thicker oil... please read AHASS' writings.

If you have oil leaks please fix them properly and not by band-aid technique of using thicker oil. Then again deferring proper service seems to be more the norm for some Ferrari owners. Sad, but true.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Steven, I have read Haas informative posts. And I agree, a nice leak free engine is the Holy Grail. Most 30 year old motors have SOME old seals, as you just can't practically (or financially) get to every one. This holds true on most old cars, from ford to ferrari. I know some of you are very lucky and have zero leaks...congrats!

But if one has a car with zero leaks, and changes to a zero weight oil, it is very reasonable to assume that this precipitated the leak...

I know this is anecdotal evidence, but:

1) Had a 76 911s, no leaks. Changed to 10/40 synthetic - tons of leaks...
2) 93 Volvo, 10/40. Changed to 0/40. Tons of leaks.
3) 87 testarossa. 20/50 dino oil per dealer. Tried synthetic. Nice smoke on start-up. Went back to dino oil, no smoke...
4) 944 turbo, 20/50 per dealer. Put in 20/50 synthetic. Got a leak by the turbo...

Could I just be someone that the oil gods consistently frown on, and are they making a mockery of me ? Possibly.

Is it possible old cars don't like synthetic or water-consistency oils? Uh-huh...

 

First, my apologies as was a bit harsh in my previous post. Agree, the financial ability to solve virtually all (or all) leaks can be quite high.

Agree, old cars with marginal seals will probably leak, but enjoy the bright side of things as the oil keeps the metals from rusting As for 'mockery,' everyone has their situations. True situation: can drive at various tracks and carefully learn each smidgeon to get that little extra... but hand me a map and ask me to drive to a place 50 miles away that i have been to twice before and color me dog meat. Maps may as well be written in some obscure language only spoken centuries ago (like hieroglyphics). H@ll, i still make WRONG TURNS when using the GPS navigation system(!).

BTW, my UOA from fluid used for both days at the July Ferrari Historic Races at Lime Rock and one day at NHIS plus a few street miles arrived via e-mail an hour ago (see below). Used a different lab than before, just to be sure of things.

Again, my apologies for my pervious harsh e-mail. Bad gaskets do indeed cause leaks. Will stand by the fact Mobile 0W-40 is fine and recent UAO below shows this.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

That's WAY cool, chart!

Mine wouldn't be that nice, with the salt air..........


I use 50W in mine....with some Oil Dry on the floor..