Hi guys.
I thought I’d give sometime back to this forum sense
it has helped me a lot.

I have battled a oil leak coming from the water pump drive shaft for months.

I would put a new seal in and it would be fine for about 2000 mile and it would start to leak.

The more I drove it the worse it got.

I had my mind made up that I was going to do something about it, and I did, and it works!!!

The cavity that’s behind the seal has no place to drain.
There are 2 small holes about 2 and 10 o’clock at the top of the shaft so when oil gets in the cavity it has to get ¾ full before it can drain back in the motor.

The seal is swimming in oil and I think that’s why it’s so prone to leaking.

I drilled a 1/8 hole at the bottom of the cavity so the oil
that gets in the cavity can drain right back in the motor.

This way the seal isn’t swimming in oil.

My timing cover has never been so dry!!!

Be sure to drill at a down hill angle so the side of the bit don’t cut a grove in the timing cover where the seal press’s in.

I used my coupler shaft as a install tool.

 

not to be a pessimist, but I'm pretty sure that rubber seal needs a little oil to lubricate it...otherwise it'll dry out quickly and fail again. On the up side there won't really won't be ny oil in there to leak out. FWIW, I would have gone a little higher up the side, but it's a good idea non the less....

 

The best way to seal it for good is switch to a electric water pump and install a freeze plug. You will also pic up a few hp in the process.

 

Here's how I fixed mine

 

So, you came over to my house and took a picture? At any rate, mine looks similar and I have had two positive results:
It no longer leaks oil out of the engine, and the water pump shaft/seal no longer leaks water down onto my Opti. Win/Win. Ain't it great?

 

Damn it, I ment to do that last time I changed mine but you hadn't thought of it yet!

 

I didn’t expect many of you would agree with my mod but my leak is fixed.
My timing cover is as dry as a popcorn fart!

As a far as the seal getting oil to keep it from drying out and lubed that isn’t a problem,
there’s plenty of oil being passed over the seal for that.

Take it or leave it my leak is fixed.

 

I'm not an engineer but I bet the little bit of oil that still makes it way thru is enough to keep it from drying out. I highly doubt that it needs to be saturated in oil.

I'm in favor of the mod- if it isn't getting oil to keep from drying out I guess that means that it can't leak out either? Sounds like another win-win to me...

 

On the install you need to use a dab of oil to lubricate the seal on start up. Check every single install guide even felpro's rec's and you will see this is pretty much the industry standard. Friction on the initial start up can cause the seal to tear or over heat causing premature failure.

 

How about a dab of grease.

It was lubed on install, every time.

 

I do not disagree with your patch. It is a good patch, and I wish you the best. However, it does not fix the real issue, which is the water pump leaking water onto the Opti. When you are ready for the real cure, just go with an electric water pump and that seal is in seal heaven and the shaft is given the shaft.
And I always use a dab-o-grease on any seal I install. On any vehicle, 2 or 4 wheeled. Just makes sense.

 

Keeping the water and oil out of the OPTI is not hard to do.

When you do a tune up just throw the O ring on the cap
and mid plate “if that is what it’s called” away and run
a bead of RTY the seal the mid plate to the housing and
the cap to the mid pate and your set.

All that you have to do is seal it up, it’s not hard to do.
The O rings are junk.

I didn’t post “save the OPTI” I posted on how to fix a common oil leak with these cars.

I don’t care if you do it or not I’m just passing along
a mod that worked for me.

Just trying to share some info.

 

Great idea!! I have my seal out right now and will be drilling tommorrow.As yours did, mine has always leaked within a couple thousand miles of replacement.I'm sure there's enough oil flying around it'll be fine as 150,000 mile wine!

 

My timing cover is still as dry as a popcorn fart !!!

 

nice. not a bad idea, i thought about going with the elec h2o pump but for now its not leaking so i wont need to fix whats not broke.