I lear(n)d something today! UV leak detection

[Harry Moon]

Thought I would make another youtube video of a small thing but might help you someday.

https://youtu.be/5xBYxMNYRqo?si=I349FZ7yLro7eP7o

[maple_leaf_eh]

Thanks for the tip

[Bob Carriere]

UV colorant can be a real time saver to find leaks or focus on repairs.

First of all the dye around here is available at Benson auto flap. The UV light is a little harder to find locally. There are some UV flashlight at Princess Auto for $10...... worth about 0.59 cents.....good for detecting where you cat pees. Good ones on Amazon BUT at least $100....... you need to know that UV comes in four different frequencies...... home use at around 10 to 60 SS and are recognized by a big head reflectors and what seems like at least 10 or 5 LEDS......... stay away from those. The best is the ones at 365 or 354 frequencies and the price goes up due to the special expensive filter necessary to let only the UV light go through...as a stronger beam more visible in existing ambient light. You do not need the low frequency at $200to 500 unless you will go hunting for flurescent rocks at abandonned mine sites. The good ones have from on to 6 special LEDS, 40 watts output and can heat up your fingers if you put them near the lens... they are loaded with 4 batteries larger than a double AA and not cheap

My problem was oil leaking on to the back side of my new clutch palte causing slippage in 3rd and 4th....engine would race about 500 rpm than finally grabbed. I had oil leaking from the bottom of the bellhousing but it seemed thicker oil than the engine oil. I cleaned up the engine and tranny with two cans of brake cleaner and choose the yellow dye that I poured into the engine oil.... ran the engine parked,,,,,, and yes it leaked and was blown to the back sides top of the engine....... I eliminated about 90 % of the leaks with the new valve cover gasket and some hammering of the valve cover, so cleaned all the bright yellow with two more cans and I still have some sweatting from the front of the oil pan,

bellhousing was till dripping and the blue oil was not from the engine...

Next I poured the orange due in the tranny gear shift tower and went for a drive in La Rose Forest, some low range 4x4 short burst at 3000 + rpm and went home for more crawling under the truck...... engine was bright yellow buyt the vell housing was like orange juice, took the sheet metal cover to see more orange mist....but not on the back side of the clutch flywheel.....

I decided to drop the tranny and possibly get a new clutch. I was adamant about removing the transmission with out draining the tranny or even removing the shift tower....... IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO REMOVE THE TRANNY BY SLIDING IT BACKWARD....... unless you remove the shift tower,

So I removed both seats, all the engine covers were already off.....removed the tool box 9 WHICH WAS FULL) and removed every fastener holding the cab and backed up the cab to the cargo box,,,,(NOTE THE ROOF CAB WAS NOT YET INSTALLED) then slide the trany backwards suspended from the overhead crane, Now I could get to the clutch pack....... the front plate of the clutch was orange the back dry...... BUT I had to remove the shift fork and mounting stud from underneath in the tight space provided between the rear cross member that holds the engine and the back of the bellhousing....a real night mare...... than disassemble the clutch to be able to remove it from below than the flywheel to inspect the rear engine block freeze plug on the end of the camshaft...... all to find everything dry of engine oil...some sweating around the rear crankshaft but not leaking enough to dripo down to the bottom of the bellhousing cover.

Now I know where the orange oil came from....... I had diligently filled the tranny with expensive synthehic oil and maybe added a bit more..... than in an attempt to reduce the gear whining added some quantity of viscosity additive to quiet it down,,,, worked somewhat and resulting in a severe overfilled tranny....long drives, heat builds up oil reaches over and above the inpuit shaft sealed bearing slowly drips down the inside of the splined input shaft and eventualy dripped onto one side of the clutch plate and slipped.

Not wanting to redo this job I got myselkf a new clutch....washed everything clean....... drained and cleaned (rinse the tranny with gas) and went one to replace the flywheel then the fun began....with clean rubber gloves re-install the clutch plate, reattache the spring clutch pack all thought the 3 inches of work space from underneath.... in fact it became a 3 man job with me underneath...Grant on top and volunteered Francis Lafrance who happened to visit to help out from the top side........

We got it done....took us a full day to re-install the clutch tranny drive shaft portion and the next day to re-install the cab and tool box...... never again... on a cab11/12 it would have been easier to remove the engine tranny with the overhead crane...do the work standing up and drop the complete assembly back in......

Who would expect a leak from the tranny from the inside of the input shaft without thew tell tale orange color.. Tranny was refilled with proper 80/90 PENN 1 oil soild specifically for restorations of older transmission...... the same resto oil has been installed in the t case and the two axles...... a bit more expensive but overall my BRITISH BULL DOG oil leaks have diminished significantly..... GOD knows the leaks will never stop.
similar process was followed with the engine with extra ZZDP zinc additives.

,,,,and she purrrrrrrs......right now she probably shiverrrsssssss in the sea can until April when the salt disappears from our roads.

The dye and UV process really works in helping you focus on the problem.