Lister HA3 major oil leak

[Tom and Bex]

My Lister HA3 is leaking large quantities of oil and spraying it all over the engine room from the cooling air. As it appears to be leaking everywhere including the top accsess panel on the flywheel casing and from around the exhaust/inlet manifolds and side ducting I assume it is the flywheel oil seal that is leaking.

 

About 18 months ago I replaced most of the top end gaskets and seals including the felt seal in the main bearing housing in an effort to cure the leaking.

 

Unfortunately this only had a very limited effect and the leak is now worse than ever - it's using about 1 litre of oil per 10 hours engine running (and spraying that quantity over the engine room!) so I need to get this sorted.

 

Is it possible to fit a modern type oil seal to the flywheel end? Or are there any other suggestions I could try? Really need this done before the BCN challenge in May as doubtful I could take the boat as it is.

 

Thanks

 

Tom

[bigste]

Can't quote your engine but in my days as a maintenance fitter I looked after many very old machines which had felt seals. I always replaced them with the modern rubber ones without a problem. It is normal for crankshaft oil seals to be of the modern type. I would be more concerned as why the seal has failed. If it is just age then so be it. It could be an excessive build up of pressure or a worn bearing and if that is the case a new rubber type seal would go the same way. If you do go for a rubber seal be sure to accurately measure the outer and inner bore diameters. Any bearing stockist should be able to supply one but it may be as cheap to buy more than one if they are special order. I always used Bearing Services Ltd but there are many in yellow pages.

[Timleech]

I think I read that there's a conversion available, try Marine Engine Services in Uxbridge or Chris-B who is their representative in this parish (though I haven't noticed any posts from him recently).

 

Tim

[Timleech]

Just to add that, as bigste says, excessive oil leaks are often a symptom of a deeper malaise. Worn rings/bores giving rise to excessive crankcase pressure is a common one. Check that the breather tubes in the cylinder heads are clear. Vertical tubes in the tops of the cylinder heads under the rocker covers, connecting into the inlet ports.

 

Edit - if there's no ready-made conversion, you would probably need to get your seal housing bored out to accept a lip seal. I'm sure that M E S can advise.

 

Tim

Edited March 10, 2014 by Timleech

[Tom and Bex]

Thanks, I'll give Marine engine services a call. Hopefully they can advise on a new seal.

 

There doesn't seem to be any noticeable crank case pressure and other than the oil leak the engine seems to be running fine. Breather tubes were cleaned out about 18 months ago so should be fine still.

 

Thanks

 

Tom

[onionbargee]

MES do supply lip seals for this, I bought one last year.

[the grinch]

first thing to check is the fuel return pipe as it cracks and gives these symptoms, easy to do undo the nuts holding the rocker covers on, lift them off and you should have a birds eye view of the pipes it usually fails between the 2 cylinders

as the computer wont let me edit the above post its the same on the 3 as the 2 but additionally there are 3 return pipes rather than 2 all joining into each other

Edited March 10, 2014 by hamsterfan

[Roadsteam]

In my experience the return pipes on ST and HR used to snap against the inside edge of the rubber where the pipes pass out thro the cylinder heads. A big clue is the high oil level & thin oil with a dieselly smell. Another place that can dump diesel in the sump I used to find was the check valves in the top of the injector pumps working loose in the pump.

[andyb116]

Just done a HA3, and as you say, leaking from 2x check valves, in case the OP doesn't know it's perfectly ok to run the engine with the crankcase cover off to see if the check valves are leaking.

[RLWP]

Just done a HA3, and as you say, leaking from 2x check valves, in case the OP doesn't know it's perfectly ok to run the engine with the crankcase cover off to see if the check valves are leaking.

 

Fuel pump cover

 

Richard

[Tom and Bex]

An update to this. Got an updated flywheel seal from Marine engine services and now fitted with no problems except I forgot just how heavy the flywheel is! The replacement seal was an updated Lister (HR?) seal so a direct replacement.

 

Now been run for about 8 hrs and so far seems much better but the real test will be the BCN challenge in May. Just need to clean all the old oil from before now so I can see where it's still leaking if at all!

 

Thanks again for your advice.

 

Tom

[Roadsteam]

If an HA is the same gaskets wise as an HR, a favourite leak point on an old engine is the gasket under the fuelpump housing, over time the gasket walks the middle layer of gasket material out of the joint due to the different expansion rates of the cast iron crank case and aluminium pump housing. Tightening the holding down bolts will not cure the leak, only a new gasket will do which means the heads will have to come off.

[Tom and Bex]

If an HA is the same gaskets wise as an HR, a favourite leak point on an old engine is the gasket under the fuelpump housing, over time the gasket walks the middle layer of gasket material out of the joint due to the different expansion rates of the cast iron crank case and aluminium pump housing. Tightening the holding down bolts will not cure the leak, only a new gasket will do which means the heads will have to come off.

This is my concern if there continues to be major oil leakage. As I feared (confirmed by MES) to access the fuel pump housing will require major dismantling including removing the gearbox and timing gear end plate and I'm not sure there is room to do this in situ. Fingers firmly crossed it will now be much better!