Finally pulled my flywheel so I could look at my rear main seal.

Dont even know where to start.

1.The seal was leaking.

2.The crank looks like it is crooked in the case.???,One side seems higher in the case than the other,also looks like there is some where or pitting on the left side of the crank where the seal sits on.

3.The worst: why is there a whole in my engine without a cover,can put my finger in.
Thats not the worst though,I saw a piece of plastic looked like it had some sort of clips on it sitting in the hole.
When I reached for it,it fell into the motor,WOW Now what.

I am Not prepaired to pull the motor at any cost,my sanity is streched to far at this point.
Have zero ideas as to what I can do,besides medication.

Another picture.

Just a wild guess....oil galley plug blown out ?
Was this a gusher last winter that you're just getting a look at now ?
Meds will be necessary.

No about the gusher.
But did take car to shop and on way home oil was everywhere,assumed it was a valve cover gasket but have no idea.Been driving the car until clutch went a couple weeks ago,apprears clutch etc is fine,must be cables or something,but thought might as well install new rear seal after seeing all the oil.

Any idea what I can do,???.
Do the oil plug get installed from this side of the motor.???
Do I fish the old plug out with a coat hanger,or leave it in the motor,Probaly not a good idea,but am asking since I dont really know.

From what I have been reading for the last 4 hours tells me a oil gallery plug blew,and needs a new plug.
I also read I can tap a new 3/8 threaded plug,so that is great.(If I am really careful).

My concern is what was still sitting in the blown oil gallery plugs hole.
It seemed like it was a piece of plastic,maybe 3 prongs on it.Nothing metal.

When I tried to grab it,it fell into the case,there was not metal on either end of it,it was just sitting there.Almost exactly like the picture.

Question:Was that part of the old seal(Plastic),or did someone try and put some sort of make shift plug in there.???

I will get a coat hanger and fish out the piece of plastic if I can,unless there is something else I can do.

Question:I bought a new Elrig rear main seal,hope that will work,or do I need a Victor Rienz Orange seal???.

The car was running great until my clutch went(Still trying to figure that out),so I dont think any metal went into my motor,

From what I have rear the gallery plug is metal???,not plastic,so makes me thing this was a home made fix,along with the improper Flywheel nuts they used when replacing clutch.

If I can fish out the plastic plug piece,should I just tap a new threaded plug and go on my way???
Would the piece of plastic come out from a oilchange???.

Thanks for any help.Sure could use some good news hear.

Whoa whoa whoa. That hole doesn't go INTO the engine. It's not an oil gallery. The plug that was in there is sitting on top of the engine. You can find it and reinstall it, find it and toss it, or completely forget about it. It does nothing. That hole was originally intended for a crank position sensor on bus versions of the motor.



The surface where the seal sits looks fine. You're over analyzing what you're seeing. All the engine cases come out of the casting mold slightly different. The factory picked up two case halves, and started machining. Slight differences resulted, but only in inconsequential places.

Replace the seal, reinstall the flywheel and move on.
If you want to dig deeper, set your endplay, replace the seal, reinstall the flywheel, and move on.

I'm not sure what got you so riled up, but a leaking main seal is pretty normal. There's a good chance it will still leak once you replace it, if it leaks less I'd call it a success. Don't hang yourself from the rafters just yet.

Clutch metal cannot go into the motor.

Thanks you made my day.Wish I knew more about this car than I do.
Will replace main seal and clean up flywheel etc,and move on once all my parts arrive from Pelican.

Then Ill try and figure out what happened to my clutch.
Thank you sir.

Motor has really gotten me thinking full time stupid.
Thanks for your input,just the same.
I look forward to driving my dream car again soon.
Thanks

That would be an awesome name for a band!

It does sound like the plug you're talking about is the one up to the left (as you are looking at where the flywheel used to be). If the hole, on the other hand, is below the crankshaft on the centerline of the case, it is the cam plug and having it fall into the engine is Bad News. Hopefully it's the former.

The metal around the end of the crank is one of the flywheel shims. There should be three of them stacked in there. They can move once the flywheel and seal are out.

--DD

Reinstall a sabo brand seal. Available at most vw parts suppliers. Bughaus, bus depot, cip one, etc. Chances of no leaking will greatly increase

It is the plug hole top left,so I quess its good.

I pulled the 3 shims when I pulled out the old seal.

My new flywheel bolts arrive today,so hopefully I can find a way to get them installed without a flywheel lock.

Ill try and order a samba seal,if I can find one.
Thanks.

If it was leaking a lot of oil that probably explains why your clutch went, the friction material got oiled. Check the clutch disk, it may be the only thing that needs to be replaced, but when clutches go it's always prudent to replace the pressure plate, throwout bearing and get the flywheel surfaced while it's all apart.

Looking at the clutch disc its not that oily.

While driving my car I could no longer get it into gear without forcing it,so I assumed it was clutch,pressure plate etc.

After pulling the tranny,I found the flywheel,pressure plate and clutch looked almost new.
So the problem is somewhere else in the clutch.
Once I get the clutch back together Ill start looking at the cable,etc.

I did not like that the spline had no grease and throw out seemed a bit off,so I ordered the right grease,and new throw out bearing.Hopefully thats all I will need.

Thanks Grant.

If there's any oil at all on it it will slip. It's a "friction" disc, so if you remove the friction it doesn't work any more. And if you try to clean it it seems you can never get it clean enough, the metal parts are fine but the friction material soaks up oil and after you use it a while the clutch will usually slip again or chatter. It might be a good idea to have a pro take a look before you try to re-use it. Or not, your call, but sometimes that CSOB stuff ends up meaning a lot of extra work.

I agree, an oily clutch disc is junk 9 times out of ten. You can trying to clean it with brakecleaner and resuse but you'll have to ask yourself how much you enjoy pulling the gearbox out... because there's a good chance you will have to do it again pretty soon.

An oily disk DOES NOT explain the issue with getting the car into gear. On the contrary.

You can't. You have a torque wrench, right?
A large screwdriver in the teeth and blocking against the transmission mount studs will work, but you'll probably need a helper to hold it steady while you tighten.

Also, there's supposed to be an o-ring 'inside' the flywheel where it mounts to the crank. Look in there and make sure it's there (picture if you're not sure). You got a new lock plate and felt washer?

It could. Usually they just slip but sometimes, depending on the disc, oil can swell the friction material a bit, making it slightly thicker, and then the heat from slipping leaves a carbon build up on the flywheel surface. I think that's what it is anyway, but it changes so clutch doesn't fully disengage any more. That makes it harder to get it into gear and then once it's in the damned thing STILL slips.

Need to look at everything else while it's apart, of course, but the disc should be replaced for sure.

Flywheel locks are cheap ($10.00) it will same you a bunch of time and you know the torque will be correct when the flywheel is locked correctly.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VW-Beetle-Type-1-F...aT0&vxp=mtr

I bought new o ring for flywheel,New pilot bearing,new flywheel bolts,new throwout,new felt washer.new exhaust stud bolts,new copper nuts,new hardware for clutch cable.

That should get it back together,then Ill try and figure out what the real problem is.
I am going to order a new clutch disc,6 spring type,might as well do it right.
Thanks for the advice.
Cheers Grant.

Ordered 2 Samba seals Thanks.

I have one of those. Hate it--it doesn't fit the flywheel teeth well at all. What I do now is run a bolt into a pressure plate mounting hole, loop a box-end wrench over that and loop the other end of the wrench over one of the trans mounting studs.

--DD

What the heck are samba seals? I said sabo.

I have the same thing and it works perfectly. You just need to make sure you use it in the right direction as the distance between the teeth is different on the opposing sides. One side works for our cars, the other might be for beetles.

Its a dance dummy.
I ordered the Sabo seal which I believe are from Brazil.
Thanks

Well..... the picture IS rotated !
......ADHD