Farrar's car blog

[sean]

I've seen some seals just fail but did you replace #3 when you did this job?
http://store.delorean.com/c-391-4-5-7-final-drive.aspx

be nice if you could get under thee and see where exactly the leak is flowing from.

[Farrar]

I've seen some seals just fail but did you replace #3 when you did this job?

Yeah, Grady's kit comes with the O-ring, the lip seals, and the sleeves.

It's sprinkling a little bit now but if it doesn't turn into a rain shower, I am going to take a break from doing homework and use my new floor jack to investigate.

[Ryan King]

Any word on that Alternator tensioner? I hate...hate...hate...having to tension mine. Its a brutal pain in the @$$

[Farrar]

be nice if you could get under thee and see where exactly the leak is flowing from.

I got under there, but driving for a while with an oil leak, plus the torn boot I discovered on the driver's side half-shaft, has made almost the entire underside of the car a black and sandy mess.

For all I know, rainwater + grease under the car = appearance of a leak. So I got a roll of papertowels and a bottle of Simple Green and went to work.

I got a chance to use my new floor jack that I bought to replace the one that walked away a few months ago. More on that later. Here are some pics of the cleaning I did. Not spotless, but much better.

SANY0053.jpg
SANY0051.jpg
SANY0050.jpg
SANY0057.jpg

Now I wait -- for two reasons.

Reason one: if rainwater + grease under the car = appearance of a leak, then I need more rainwater.

Reason two: the new jack I bought doesn't go straight up like the old one did -- when I put it back under the frame to remove the jack-stands, I found that I couldn't do so because the jack-stands had been tilted onto two corners, and were still lodged beneath the car.

I was able to use the left jack plate to get one side of the car high enough to remove the jack-stand, but I was unable to get the right side of the car high enough to remove the other jack-stand. Evidently, my new jack, which has a two-ton capacity, also does not go as high into the air as my old jack. (The old floor jack I had was a beast. My grandfather got it to jack up his old Willys cab -- it had an eight-ton capacity. My jack-stands are also a bequest from Grandad -- they have a nine-ton capacity!)

So now I have to buy a new floor jack -- evidently, the one that I bought is only good for changing tires. In the meantime, the car is on jack-stands with ramps under the rear tires for insurance.

Any word on that Alternator tensioner? I hate...hate...hate...having to tension mine. Its a brutal pain in the @$$

Not at the moment, but while the car is in the air I guess now would be a good time to measure for the parts I will need to buy from McMaster-Carr (in addition to new O-rings for underneath the intake manifold, where I am still suspected of having a leak).

Edit: SuperMatt got in touch with me on Facebook and sent me a list of the parts needed to make that tensioner. Brilliant! I have added them to my order and they will ship tomorrow with my new intake manifold O-rings. Now all I have to do is get the car back on the ground..... :P

[sean]

Yeah, you gotta let that cat dry off.

[Farrar]

Yeah, you gotta let that cat dry off.

30% chance of rain today, 20% chance of rain tomorrow, 70% chance of rain Friday.....

[stevedmc]

For what its worth, I repalced the same seals on my car a few months before we did your car.

I used seals from Grady, which I believe he gets from DMCH. Well, a few months back I noticed a tiny leak coming from the driver side seal.

Budget permitting, I plan to eventualyl replace the driver side seal with one of Hervey's double lipped seals.

[Ryan King]

Farrar...Im really ecstatic for your response on this mod. Let me know how it works out and what all I would need to order.

403303_10102335245007174_9318120_89970331_474016154_n.jpg

[Farrar]

For what its worth, I repalced the same seals on my car a few months before we did your car.

So this is a regular maintenance item? I have put fewer than ten thousand miles on my car since we did those seals on mine. I wonder how often you're supposed to replace them. I will have to check my Workshop Manual and see. I really hope that my output shaft seals are not leaking already -- this means that I will have to change them every year no matter how much or how little I drive the car.

Of course, I have a torn boot anyway so I need to order a rebuilt half-shaft from Hervey.

[sean]

So this is a regular maintenance item?

I wouldnt say that but the seals can be pretty finicky.