Need advice -- oil galley plug, What to seal with? Options

[BillC]

I think I found the oil leak on the bottom of my engine. When they rebuilt it, they installed screw-in oil galley plugs. This one, on the front of the engine, appears to be the leak -- it was a little loose and there was oil all over the back of the motor mount bracket.


The plug is 22mm with 1.5mm thread, straight thread (no taper), and is fairly short. It looks like they might have used a very small amount of gasket shellac to seal it originally. They did stake the plug, and it didn't rotate, but it unscrewed very easily and turned-in just a little past the stake when I tried putting it back in.

What should I use to seal this plug? I'm guessing pipe dope isn't the right stuff, since the plug isn't tapered. More gasket shellac? Red loctite? Something else?

Thanks!

[DennisV]

I think I found the oil leak on the bottom of my engine. When they rebuilt it, they installed screw-in oil galley plugs. This one, on the front of the engine, appears to be the leak -- it was a little loose and there was oil all over the back of the motor mount bracket.

The plug is 22mm with 1.5mm thread, straight thread (no taper), and is fairly short. It looks like they might have used a very small amount of gasket shellac to seal it originally. They did stake the plug, and it didn't rotate, but it unscrewed very easily and turned-in just a little past the stake when I tried putting it back in.

What should I use to seal this plug? I'm guessing pipe dope isn't the right stuff, since the plug isn't tapered. More gasket shellac? Red loctite? Something else?

Thanks!

If remove and reinstall is an option, perhaps Loctite 574. A Porsche trained mechanic uses it for not just case sealant but some plugs like the one in the end of the intermediate shaft. BTW - This is a good read on various case sealants.

If you're looking for something to apply to the exterior, Wayne Dempsey's engine building book recommends JB Weld in places where Porsche used epoxy (i.e., freeze plugs on 911 engines). Not sure about 914.