Oil Clean-Up To demonstrate the integrity of his Hispano-Suiza cars, Marc Birkigt would drive a production model from Paris to Cannes and back and then park on a white linen sheet with nothing else showing but tire marks. Your Triumph was never built to be maintained to the exacting standards of M. Birkigt, but it can be maintained or rebuilt so that it will never commit an indiscretion on your or a friend's driveway.
The valve cover is the most likely spot to spring a leak and often requires no more than a bit of tightening or renewal of the fiber washers underneath the locknuts. If you do a fair amount of work on your car, the valve cover will be on and off several times a summer. The standard valve cover gasket is ok for a new engine. For a more mature vehicle, you will have to straighten a few warps & bows before installing a new gasket.
Oil leaking from the bottom of the engine is probably due to loose oil pan screws or an oil pan gasket that has reached retirement age. Put the car on axle stands and try tightening the bolts holding the pan to the bottom of the block If this doesn't stop the flow of oil, then there's no way around the problem except to put the car back up on stands, drain the oil, drop the pan and clean off the old gasket. This is an afternoon's job since the TR chassis has no cross-members to make removal of the pan interesting. Clean the pan of sludge while it's off and check small end and main bearing clearances, if oil pressure has been low. The gasket should be assembled between the pan and block with Permatex or other sealant, remembering that the number of holes is different on the front and back of the block
Another place oil leaks from the engine is the timing chain cover, either around the gasket or at the front oil seal In any case, the fan has to come off to remove the cover, which also means that the radiator must be removed.
Since the crankcase and valve cover gaskets are the biggest ones on the engine, they will often spring an oil leak through no fault of their own. If the PCV valve (top and rear of engine on the carburetor side) is blocked, or the hoses in or out are kinked, then pressure from combustion products leaking past piston rings (engine blow-by) can build up inside the engine and force oil out. Since these two gaskets show the longest face to the interior of the engine, then they are most likely to leak. Cleaning the PCV valve and ensuring the hoses are open is an essential part of eliminating oil leaks. Earlier TR engines vented blow-by directly to the air through an oil filler cap filled with metal mesh. While this efficiently removed the crankcase gases, it also took a fair amount of oil with it, depositing them on the engine and other places in the engine compartment. There's no hope for an engine in this state except to go for a ring job.
Keith Dannacker
Alberta, Canada
To demonstrate the integrity of his Hispano-Suiza cars, Marc Birkigt would drive a production model from Paris to Cannes and back and then park on a white linen sheet with nothing else showing but tire marks. Your Triumph was never built to be maintained to the exacting standards of M. Birkigt, but it can be maintained or rebuilt so that it will never commit an indiscretion on your or a friend's driveway.
The valve cover is the most likely spot to spring a leak and often requires no more than a bit of tightening or renewal of the fiber washers underneath the locknuts. If you do a fair amount of work on your car, the valve cover will be on and off several times a summer. The standard valve cover gasket is ok for a new engine. For a more mature vehicle, you will have to straighten a few warps & bows before installing a new gasket.
Oil leaking from the bottom of the engine is probably due to loose oil pan screws or an oil pan gasket that has reached retirement age. Put the car on axle stands and try tightening the bolts holding the pan to the bottom of the block If this doesn't stop the flow of oil, then there's no way around the problem except to put the car back up on stands, drain the oil, drop the pan and clean off the old gasket. This is an afternoon's job since the TR chassis has no cross-members to make removal of the pan interesting. Clean the pan of sludge while it's off and check small end and main bearing clearances, if oil pressure has been low. The gasket should be assembled between the pan and block with Permatex or other sealant, remembering that the number of holes is different on the front and back of the block
Another place oil leaks from the engine is the timing chain cover, either around the gasket or at the front oil seal In any case, the fan has to come off to remove the cover, which also means that the radiator must be removed.
Since the crankcase and valve cover gaskets are the biggest ones on the engine, they will often spring an oil leak through no fault of their own. If the PCV valve (top and rear of engine on the carburetor side) is blocked, or the hoses in or out are kinked, then pressure from combustion products leaking past piston rings (engine blow-by) can build up inside the engine and force oil out. Since these two gaskets show the longest face to the interior of the engine, then they are most likely to leak. Cleaning the PCV valve and ensuring the hoses are open is an essential part of eliminating oil leaks. Earlier TR engines vented blow-by directly to the air through an oil filler cap filled with metal mesh. While this efficiently removed the crankcase gases, it also took a fair amount of oil with it, depositing them on the engine and other places in the engine compartment. There's no hope for an engine in this state except to go for a ring job.
Keith Dannacker
Alberta, Canada
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