1929 Chrysler Oil leak

[coling]

Hi

My friend has recently aquired a 1923 Chrysler Phaeton 6cyl 3.1 litre.

Oil is slowly dripping from the rear of the bell housing, we assume that this is the back bearing oil seal.

He has heard of a ball valve in this location could also be the fault.

Any info greatly appreciated

Coling from the UK

[TerryB]

First Chrysler was 1924 so the date of your car is off, maybe 1925?

[coling]

apps... it is 1929

[John_Mereness]

Most cars of this period  leak oil - the difference is between leaking oil and leaking too much oil (you do not want too much leaking out).

[keiser31]

You may want to post this in the Chrysler section.

[TerryB]

2 hours ago, coling said:

apps... it is 1929

Ok, that’s helpful.  Welcome to the forum.  There is a separate Chrysler section as mentioned above that may be able to help with your problem.  Engine serial number is also good to post as the engine may not be original to the car.

[lump]

Are you sure you mean the BACK of the bellhousing? If so, that is where it mates with the transmission. In that case, the leak is probably at the front shaft of the transmission. 

 

On the other hand, if you mean at the back of the engine, and thus the front of the bellhousing, that would suggest a rear main crankshaft seal leak. 

 

(FULL DISCLOSURE: At least, those statements I just made would be accurate for the kinds of cars I have worked on. I've never tackled an early Chrysler). 

[coling]

Thanks...most helpful

[FLYER15015]

Keiser 31 is right, in that for Chrysler issues you should post on their forum, HOWEVER it is always a good thing to scour the other forums and yours is certainly a "technical issue'.

 

SO, with that in mind let me please refer you to the BUICK Forums for a solution to a leaky rear main seal  that does not involve anything more than pulling the pan and the rear main cap. Not a big deal.

There is a post on the Buick forum where once you pull the pan and the rear main cap, you use something like a choke cable (a wire wrapped around a wire) to insert the inner wire and push it up up thru the rear main seal and basically "expand it". You can do this 2-4 times, which will put more pressure on the crank and seal up your leak. It is a proven process used by several folks in the Buick community, including me, on my '40 LTD.

 

Secondly, some times a leak from the bell housing flywheel cover drain hole is the Tx front shaft. Most of the old cars do not have a seal here, and just rely on a "slinger" set of spiral grooves on the shaft and a bronze bushing. Bushing gets worn, gap gets too big and slinger cannot handle the volume of oil, especially if the Tx is full or over full.

 

Hope you come back here and this sets you off to do more research before you break out the wrenches.

 

Mike in Colorado

Edited March 13, 2019 by FLYER15015 (see edit history)

[maok]

If it's a 1929 series 65, its probably similar to my '28 series 62, there is no real crank seal as such, just 2 horizontal felts sandwich between the rear main cap and the block, see my engine build on page 4. Most likely that the felts have perished and it's leaking more than usual, it is design to leak some. The flywheel bottom cover has a weep hole for the excess oil to drip out of.