Oil leak beginning to make me mad now!

Hi Gareth,

The clear pipe is the drain pipe from the scuttle area. There will be one both sides. That should only ever have rain water going through that.

Cheers
Andy

.......ahhhh.......right Andy.
I wonder if the pipe was coated with dye stained oil on the outside then, not the inside.
Looks like I'm back to square one.
I can only think it's either coming from the crank shaft seal, auxiliary shaft seal, distributor seal or sump seal........it's driving me insane.

I think it'll be a case of replacing seals one by one until it stops.
There seems to be a lot of drips hanging from the oil pressure sensor. Maybe that one has failed and is spraying the general area?
Is the oil pressure sensor a paper or rubber gasket or is it a crush washer?

Gareth.

......had another look under and in the car this morning boys.
The crankshaft, cam shaft and auxiliary seals seem dry as bone......I really don't think it's those.
The only thing I can see it being is either the oil sensor seal, the distributor shaft base seal or the sump gasket.....it has to be one of those.

Gareth.

just had similar to you a while ago, it was from the oil pressure sensor , the one thats mounted at the top , not the one next to oil filter , i fitted a new one , it turned out that the one that i replaced was leaking

Hey Ric,

Yes, I'm determined to not let this beat me. It's a process of elmination!
EurosportUK is my lifeline!.....I've ordered a new oil sensor aluminium crush washer seal, a new distributor base seal and a new sump gasket to be sure.
In the event of another oil drain down, I've ordered another sump plug crush washer.
This has to cure it or I'm going to end up doing a Basil Fawlty and thrashing it with a branch!

Was it your actual oil sensor that was leaking or the crush washer Ric?.......if mine is leaking, it'll be the one next to the oil filter.

Gareth.

it was the crush washer it was not seated properly and was dripping along the wire that goes to the other sensor near the filter

Hi Gareth,

I had the same problem with the crush washer, but it was me not doing it up tightly enough. I replaced the oil pressure sender unit on my Twin cam (i believe they are the same unit) and the oil filter too, something kept leaking and i was convinced it was the oil filter seal not sealing nicely. A few oil drain downs and fettling later, after re-visiting the sender unit, i tried tightening it more and it suddenly started tightening again! The resistance of the actual crush on a new washer is high (from Eurosport) You really have to crank it tight to crush it. May not be your cause if you have not changed the sender unit but worth bearing in mind if you do.

Rich

.....thanks Rich.
I haven't changed the oil pressure sensor but I don't know if anyone has fiddled with it before my ownership.
Everytime I return from a drive and look underneath, the sensor is dripping with oil and I'm sure it's not coming from above.
Before I could anything, I had to order some more spanners as I didn't have a 22mm for the sensor!
I find it hard to believe that a sealed crush washer can fail unless it's been messed with.
Still....that's my next job once the new washer has arrived.

Gareth.

UPDATE:

Well.....to say that I'm a happy man would be an under statement!
It "appears" that I've fixed my oil leak with a new aluminium crush washer for the oil pressure sensor.
Took the X1/9 for a long run today after replacing it and checked underneath when I got back. Previously after coming back from a run out and checking, the underside of the engine would be coated in oil and dripping from every low point.
This time, almost nothing!....a couple of small hanging drips. I checked my oil pressure sensor and I managed another quarter turn nipping it up tighter.
It's amazing how all of that oil could come from there when under pressure and operating temperature!
Many thanks for everyones input on this.
Happy bunny!!!

FURTHER UPDATE!

Well it looked like my elation was premature!
After several gasket replacements and an oil pressure sensor crushed washer replacement (which I'm glad I did anyway), the oil leak was still there.
To cut a long story short, I did one further gasket change to the distributor base where it sits into the block.
This seems to have cured it after all this time!
The old one when I removed it was in a very sorry state, It was so old, it had turned brittle and hard. In fact I snapped it in half.
The new rubber flexible gasket seems to have done the trick.

Gareth.

one improvement you might consider is electric fuel pump see my picture