I noticed there seemed to be some oil leakage inside the engine compartment. Oil was showing up on the engine tin and on the intake manifold under the oil filler. I thought this might related to oil being spilled when adding oil to the engine. However, after wiping it down several times I decided it had to be something else. I spent a bit of time on the internet looking for insights and learned that a common problem is with the gasket that fits between the oil filler and the alternator stand.
 |
| Oil was dripping down on the engine tin behind the oil dip stick. |
 |
| This was the oil filler installed when I purchased the car. Notice the nipple for the breather hose is the wrong size (too big) and the after market filler cap. |
I was able to remove the existing oil filler from the alternator stand and found that there was no gasket between the filler and the stand. It turns out the gasket was placed inside the filler between the gland nut and the filler body. This is the wrong place for the gasket since it will not keep the oil from seeping out from between the filler and the alternator stand. In addition, when the gland nut was tightened, the gasket was damaged so it was possible for oil inside the filler body to leak past the gland nut as well. With a damaged gasket installed in the wrong location, it is likely this is where the oil was coming from. I decided to get a new oil filler and cap. With a new gasket installed between the filler and the alternator stand I tightened up gland nut. It will take some time to see if this was the source of the oil leak, but it was a likely suspect and the new oil filler with a cap that is closer to original the engine compartment is just a bit cleaner.
 |
| New oil filler installed with a new breather hose. |
