Hi all,

So my "other car" is a '56 bug, with it's original engine. It started leaking oil worse than usual a couple of weeks ago, and I assumed it was a leaking push rod tube, as that's where the oil seemed to come from. The oil level was still ok when checked yesterday.

Tonight, as I was driving home, I climbed a hill in 3rd, shifted into 4th at the top, and heard a "Grrrrrrrr" as the engine stopped. No lights until the engine stopped.

After pulling over, i tried to restart, and the engine cranked over easily, maybe easier than normal, but didn't fire at all. During cranking the oil light stayed on.

After towing it home, I went for a drive to retrace my route, and found a trail of oil on the road most of the way up the hill. It stopped no more than 500m from the end of the oil trail.

Is it possible that my oil-pump has failed? Cam snapped?

There are no holes in the case or anything, but I'm thinking the oil cooler might be the source of the leak. There is no knocking, grinding or anything else happening while cranking, but it does seem to spin over a little faster than before.

Any Ideas???

Front or rear main seal?

Sorry for your loss! That's a cool year for Beetles.

The faster cranking would most likely be a loss of compression, the oil loss could be anywhere/anything from cooler to cracked case. When they BOTH occur I would suspect (and HOPE) that it's just something going on in the valve train and the leak is coming from the valve cover, or possible a loose head and a push rod tube leak.

If the top side isn't covered with oil, look underneath, pop off the valve covers, check where the tubes meet the block and heads, maybe you got lucky. Otherwise, a quick compression test will tell most of the story.

Luck, and COOL CAR! I had a green one (same year) with a red interior and sun roof. LOADS of fun.

TC

Maybe time to do the type4 2.0 conversion on it? Sorry to hear about your troubles, keep us updated.

My best!
Mike D.