Oil leak above the oil pan/intake plenum
 

I have an oil leak. It originates between the crank case halves just above the oil pan/intake plenum. Will torqueing these bolts a bit more seal this or is it a bigger problem? :confused:

It probably won?t help but it?s also probably not a problem, I have heard some say there engines don?t leak; personally I have never seen a dry Lycoming with more than a hundred hours. If it?s pouring out then ok maybe a problem, if it just has drips hanging off the bottom and everything underneath has a shine of oil on it that?s normal.

My Leakoming has several spots like yours. It doesn't consume extra oil however. I clean it once in a while with cloth using avgas. You will see these oily spots in some weird places on your engine.

I have one of those engines as well.

Sorry Jesse, that is not a leak. Just a confirmation of a healthy aircraft engine. :)

Unfortunately Lycoming and many others still use 60+ year old techniques (silk string) to seal cases halves and they will leak sometimes in short order. In this case it appears the sump gasket was put on dry (another way to ask for leaks) and because of that there is nothing effectively sealing that corner. You might try removing the sump and replacing the gasket with it rubbed on both sides with Titeseal.

And yes they can be made to not leak, I was just looking over the weekend at an A65 Continental I built several years ago that operates several hundred hours a year and it only had some minor seepage around the cylinder bases.

Oil seal
 

Dang, that Rocketbob always has the best solutions,,, Go Army.

Should only take about "10 minutes" to pull the sump and reseal :D

Come on Walt
 

I know this is a tongue in cheek remark..

It really takes about 30 :)

Cheek
 

And that's just to get the cowl off!:D