Hi All:

I ran into problem with my 1971 1.7 914. I developed a massive oil leak at the rear of the engine.

Removal of the engine revealed: a damaged rear thrust bearing, 2 deformed shims and 1 destroyed shim and a damaged oil seal.

The oil leak started very abruptly and without a warning. Any thoughts on what caused this failure? I certainly want to do what I can to prevent this sort of failure.Click to view attachment

What's the history of this engine? Looks like the spring that tensions the rear main seal popped out, collected the end play shim, and created havoc.

The car is a daily driver and the engine has about 18,000 miles on it since being rebuilt.

About 2,000 to 3,000 miles ago, there was a strange self-readjustment of the clutch cable. Fixed that by replacing the clutch fork sleeve, clutch bearing guide and clutch fast plate. The clutch pedal has always felt really hard to press down but I don't know what a "normal" 914 clutch should feel like.

Is the pressure plate a stock unit or heavy duty / racing style ? not on a t4 but my Toyota 4 banger I had a similar problem that was the extra pressure from the clutch would actually move the crank enough for the bearing shim to become dislodged. It two was ugly. Ended up tighting the clearance as much as possible on the rebuild 60,000 later all is still good. The clutch is still hard

Could the wrong shims/incorrect crankshaft endplay cause this?

Do you have a picture of the flywheel mating surface?

I also thought I might have the wrong pressure plate. I checked and it looks to be correct. Its Sachs parts # is 308218331.

I am not with the car but will see about posting a pic when possible.

Jake, I am so pleased to see you posting here more regularly! Thanks for sharing your hard won knowledge with us.