Oil leak repair Options

[FJ1200]

Greetings,

Fairly new to the forums and owner of a 1972 teener. I bought the car last spring with a slightly hot rodded 2.0 and a side shift conversion. The true upside is ZERO rust, I have a lift and have inspected every inch of the car.

The issue I have is that the oil filter flange is leaking badly (1qt/20 miles). Upon inspection it appears that the upper nut can not be removed without removing the oil cooler. I have new oil cooler seals and the oil filter flange gasket coming from Auto Atlanta. Question is, has anyone ever removed the filter flange in the car? I really would rather not perform an engine drop this week, but I will if needed.

Just a little background, until 5 yrs ago I was an Audi dealer shop foreman for 25 years. As a result the nuts and bolts don't bother me at all. It is more current time constraints and the want to drive the car.

Thanks,

Daniel

[Superhawk996]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/welcome.png)

Wecome to 914's.

Two rules of 914's.

1) No such thing as zero rust. It's there somewhere. By the time they arrived on our shores from overseas via boat they had surface rust beginning inside various panels that you can't easily see into (sail panels, longitudinals, etc.). You just haven't found it yet. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) But seriouly, there are some really nice cars out there sounds like you've found one. Great job!

2) Almost all serious engine work is better performed by dropping the engine. It's a mid-engine thing. Sure there are lots of people that find ways to do things with the engine in the car. But, the reality is that it is so simple and easy to drop the engine that it is usually faster to just do that than to fart around trying to keep the engine in and then working twice as hard to access parts. Yes, this applies to the oil cooler.


Before you assume it's the oil cooler or oil cooler seals, check the oil pressure sensor. They often leak and then the oil drips down around the flange that you're seeing.