4 Happy shakedown days for the 914 at MUSR! Car on the road for the first time in a year! Serious oil leak! Quart per hour. Oil pooling all over the top of the motor and smoking out the engine lid, not burning oil. Eye after eye looked at what might be the obvious and we all missed this one...

A MISSING CRANK CASE BOLT - RIGHT ON TOP - IN PLAIN SIGHT!. Granted, I missed it for a year. Also, I havn't done a die test (suggested) yet and will still be cleaning the bottom of the motor tomorrow and then go on the search for the leak.

I want to fill in the hole, can it be a bolt from Home Depot? Special size? Locktite? What should it be torqued to? What should the other bolts I can get to be torqued to? Are they all the same?

Do you think this is enough to let a quart per hour pop out the top of the motor? [color=#000099]

Suggests please - especially if you had lots of oil all over the top of the motor.

Thanks guys! Bill

At the bottom of the picture there is a missing tin screw. I have an engine where the PO stripped it and put a drill through into the case before a helicoil. That leaked quite a bit. Not quite a quart an hour..

I would suggest a bad seal/seals. Possibly the oil cooler. Thats got the most oil up high.

Bill,
I did some thinking, and from the oil leak pattern on your back window when you passed us on 121 I suspect that the crank seal behind the fan is leaking. It would account for why the leak slowly got worse over the weekend. I would replace it and see if it helps.

And yes it can be done with the engine in the car. You pull the front tin, and then the fan. It is not easy to see like this, but you can do it.

Or just drop the motor... and fix the fuel pump location at the same time.

I agree, the missing case bolt is the least of your worries. It is a standard 8mm bolt, so readily available. It would certainly help case rigidity, and would be beneficial for the crank and bearings, but I doubt it could cause a leak. Crank, oil cooler seals and the pressure sender are the usual suspects.