If I had, I'd shoot myself.

[Tony Radford]

I just got my car back from the shop (two days). The purpose of the trip was to fix an oil leak. It was dripping from the bell housing, so I assumed it was a rear main seal. It was. But during the disassembly process, it was determined that my driveshaft yoke was trashed along with the associated bushing in the trans. Fixed that. Clutch was a standard-duty clutch, which was scorched, as was the flywheel. Got a new King Cobra clutch and a billet steel flywheel. Clutch is great. But I still have the leak. It's much smaller, but a leak non the less. The shop put a sleeve on the end of the crank along with the one-piece seal. Replaced the pan gasket. Alas, I saw another drip at the bottom of the bell housing. I'm running Mobile 1, 5W 30. Is it possible that I will just have trouble keeping it all in the engine? It doesn't drip enough to ever have to add any, but I feel like these guys did a very thorough job fixing it. I can't believe they did anything wrong. I did crank some serious Rs on the way home from the shop. Any ideas?

Tony

[Bob Putnam]

Tony,

Mobil 1 is great at finding every possible way out of an engine. If it isn't a major leak and doesn't bother you a lot, live with it. If not, go back to conventional oil. If it still leaks substantially, you'll have to have the engine doctor go back in.

Is there a galley plug on the back of a small block, behind the engine plate?

[Tony Radford]

Thanks Bob, I'm not sure about the galley plug. I did speak to Bill Parham about it. He said the same thing, to change to a 50 weight Valvoline racing oil. I'm going to switch when I get a few miles on the Mobil 1. It costs too much to trash right away!

[Jack21]

If you're using a 5W30, you might want to switch to a 10W30. Perhaps a switch to another synthetic. I use Castrol 10W30 in Cobra (11,000 mi), and wife's Buick (93,000 mi) no leaks.

50W racing for a street engine? Don't think you want to do that.