Engine Trouble

[Gravy]

I own a 1998 Bravo 1.8 HLX
In the year and a half that I have had the car, I have had THREE crank oil seal failures. I have no explanation as to why this is happening.
Has anyone else had any experience of this phenomenon, or heard of any similar tales?

Any info would be mose gratefully recieved, as I love mu Bravo, but it is becoming an expensive hobby!!!

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Gaz B]

Hi mate,

Unfortunately my 1.8 HLX developed the same fault just after Christmas!

Basically the main seal kept popping out and dumping all the oil. Afetr the garage tried to fix it acouple of times they used some adhesive on the seal which lasted for about a month and a half, and then the engine dumped all the oil again. Except this time, the seal was still in place but the oil was being forced past the seal where it meets the crank.

Anyway, the root of the problem turned out to be excessive movement in the crank. So when the clutch was being used the crank would be moving in and out about 4mm as well causing the seal to come out. This was also causing wear on the oil pump which was also a contributing factor.

In the end because of the amount of labour involved in stripping down the engine to see exactly why there was excessive crank movement, let alone the cost of actually repairing the problem (if it turned out to be repairable), it was cheaper to buy a recon engine and have that fitted, which I have now done.

Have had my car back for just over a week now and the '98 S 46,000 mile engine is so much smoother than my '96 N 72,000 miler was!

You may not have exactly the same problem I had, but you should get them to check for this first as it will save you a lot of time and misdiagnosis by garages who aren't as well informed as the garage I used!

Good luck mate!

 

[Tom]

Re: Re: Engine Trouble

Yup, your crank is ****ed basically.

 

[Gravy]

Thanx

Cheerz for such a prompt response!
The last time it was fixed, the guys at the garage said that the wear on the crank could have been a possible cause, so the mechanic said he shimmed the seal so it sat in a slightly different place.
Your explanation seems logical and quite likely.
Without having access to the technical drawings, I couldn't begin to trace the source of the crank movement, so I'm thinking about an engine replacement.
Question is, how much would it cost?
Ultimately I think I want a new car. Have been looking online at the Civic Type-R!
£80 per horsepower ... hmmm, ....

 

[Tom]

Re: Thanx

It might be worth getting an engine specialist to eye it up first. If its only a small movement then it could be fixed relatively easily. It might just be worn thust bearings and they can be changed with the engine in the car.

A chap on here had over 6mm of movement in the crank, pretty much engine writeoff at that stage.

 

[Gravy]

Food for thought ...

I'll ask the mechanic who replaces the seal about the thrust bearing. Could be a better long term solution, methinx. I'd like to hand the car over to it's next owner in good working order.

Think I'll still check out the cost of a recon engine though.

 

[David]

Judder

Hi,

Just wondered, when you had this problem did you have a bit of judder when taking up drive after lifting off at low speeds? Could (and most probably am) wrong but I was thinking this could cause a bit of 'clutch' judder whereby it would actually be the crankshaft moving. I have this problem but can see no oil leaks yet from the crankshaft oil seal.