[T3] Push rod tube oil seal replacement

[Will McCreight <whmcc@attglobal.net>]

<x-flowed>I have an oil leak I am going to evaluate...it is on the left side (cyl 
3 & 4), and accounts for about a liter every 2 weeks.  Leaves an obvious 
pool wherever the car is parked. I believe that in a previous post, 
someone (I think it was Dave Hall) suggested it could be a pushrod tube 
oil seal.

To the end of at least trying to determine how difficult a fix might be, 
I found the following in regard to Type 2's at:
http://www.type2.com/bartnik/tech.htm


   Pushrod Tube Oil Seals

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaky pushrod tube oil seals are a common cause of oil leaks on the VW 
air-cooled engines. To fix the leak, you have to remove the pushrod 
tubes and replace the seals on both ends.

It's not a technically difficult task, but it is time-consuming and will 
try your patience. It will be easier to do the job with the rear wheels 
removed.

*NOTE:*This procedure applies only to the Type 4 engine. To replace the 
pushrod tube oil seals on a Type 1 engine is much more involved, since 
the cylinder heads have to come off.

To remove the pushrod tubes,

1) Remove valve cover -- get your big honkin' screwdriver under the bail 
and pry it down (don't pry it up. You'll regret it. Ask me how I know).

2) You are now faced with your rocker arms. Note that there is a thin 
metal wire spring thing that is very oddly shaped and goes the length of 
the head, fitted under the rocker arms and holds the pushrod tubes in 
place. Pay attention to how it goes because you will need to know later. 
This is another reason for doing only one side at a time so you can 
reference the other side for reassembly. Anyway, loosen the rocker arm 
nuts a bit so you have enough slack to get that spring out. Try not to 
bend it up too much.

3) Get a clean paper towel or something similar to keep all the parts 
on. Put the spring on the towel. Now remove the rocker arm nuts and 
washers and put them on your towel. Don't lose 'em. Pull the rocker arms 
off the studs and be careful as they will want to fall apart as soon as 
they are free from the studs. Put them on the towel next to each other 
like they are in the engine. This is one of those jobs where you want to 
avoid mixing stuff up.

4) Remove a pushrod (I do these one at a time so I don't get the 
pushrods mixed up. Just pull it right out. Sometimes they are full of 
oil and surprise you. Lay it on the paper towel, make sure it's straight 
by rolling it. If it's bent, time for a new one.

5) Remove pushrod tube. You do this by twisting/pushing/pulling it out 
through the cylinder head. Many say not to use pliers on the tube but if 
you use pliers and squeeze lightly (so as not to crush the tube) you'll 
be OK, I used pliers when I did it and they're MUCH easier to get out 
that way. Just be sure to squeeze very lightly. You usually need to set 
up a twisting motion to break them free and then pull back firmly but 
gently and pull the tube out through the head.

6) Clean up old tubes or replace them. Use parts cleaner, like brake 
parts cleaner or carb cleaner. Get all the crud off the tubes, you may 
find that they are not supposed to be black. You may also elect to 
purchase a complete set of new pushrod tubes. Remove the old seals from 
the tubes if you are reusing them. I usually get them off by getting a 
screwdriver blade under the seal and prying it off the tube.

7) Install new seals. There are two kinds available. One is the stock VW 
seal and the other is the seal that gets used on the Porsche version of 
the same engine. Buy the expensive Porsche version. Word is they will 
outlast the VW seals quite well. You will need 16 seals for the job and 
the seal for the case end of the tube is smaller than the seal for the 
cylinder head end. So you should have 8 of the large seals and 8 of the 
small.

8) Clean up the sealing surfaces on the cylinder head and the engine 
case. Use a paper towel moistened your parts cleaner of choice. Be 
thorough, any dirt on the sealing surface will cause leakage. Take your 
time and do it right.

9) Repeat with each pushrod tube.

10) Put everything back together. When reinstalling the pushrod tubes, 
you need to make sure they seat all the way. They don't tend to want to 
go all the way in by hand. I used a big 1/2" drive extension as a drift 
and gently tapped the tubes home with a hammer. Be careful doing this 
that you don't pinch the seals on the head end.

Make sure that you put that wire spring thing back in correctly. It 
holds the pushrod tubes in place. Again, don't mix up the pushrods, 
rockers, etc. Also, when putting things back together, you will want to 
make sure that the pushrods seat correctly in the lifters. If you twist 
them around by hand you can just feel them slip in where they're 
supposed to be. After you're done, put new valve cover gaskets on (don't 
use sealer, just a thin coat of wheel bearing grease on both sides of 
the gasket). If the sealing surfaces for the valve cover gaskets on the 
heads are rough, it is wise to take some steel wool and use it to smooth 
the cylinder head surface out. This will stop those pesky valve cover 
gasket leaks. If you have solid lifters, you will need to adjust the 
valves after this operation (that's another whole procedure, but is 
written up well in Muir). Some say if you have hydraulic lifters you 
also need to adjust but I've seen it done without adjusting and it's 
been fine.

11) Have a beer!

Sean Bartnik

Is this about right?  Are there Type 3 peculiarities/differences?  
Anyone else done this as an isolated procedure, engine in?  Is this 
procedure worth doing?  I am pleased now to not have the "gas in the 
oil" problem---Betty now "uses oil" rather than being full all the time, 
and I look upon this as a step in the right direction---but now I am 
embarrassed to be polluting the environment, and having to check/refill 
the oil frequently, especially if this is a simple fix.

--
Will McCreight
whmcc@attglobal.net
Portland, OR
(208) 661-6262 cell

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