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MG TD TF 1500 - Oil on clutch disc - REPORT

I hope this may be of some use to others who have oil on the clutch face and are looking for a way to remove it.

The suggestions and comments on my previous thread were most helpful. I now believe I have a clutch facing that is free of oil, due to "kitty-litter" and "brake cleaner".

I made a circular bed of kitty-litter to match the facing on the clutch disc and laid the disc on it. I then poured kitty-litter on top of the exposed clutch face. This was left to sit for one day, and then I started to rub the K/L around on each face over the next two days. After blowing it clean with a high pressure air hose, I wiped it down with a brake cleaner and let dry. Using a clean rag, I scrubbed the faces down again. When I wipe the faces with a white paper towel, there is no residue picked up, so I call it clean, and feel it is ready to instal.

I would be interested in any comments about this procedure, and thanks again for the support.

George
George Raham [TD4224]

george, will you report back after a few miles to advise if this method worked? regards, tom
tom peterson

Tom,
I am hoping to get this motor in the car, and some miles on it, before it is tucked away for the winter. I will be happy to report on the results when they occur. At the present rate of progress, it will probably in Sept. before it will get fired up.

George
George Raham [TD4224]

Please don't use the term "FIRED UP"

SPW
STEVE WINCZE

The problem here is that friction lining act like sponges. Often you can get the surface clean and free of oil, but once hot from use, the oil will come to the surface again. Once on the surface it will glaze the pressure plate and flywheel and the only way to fix all this is to pull the engine out!

My suggestion would be to have a brake and clutch man replace the friction material on your clutch disc, and have them check the pressure plate and flywheel for glazing and surface those too if needed. The money "saved" by the kitty litter is quite a gamble if the fix required is a full engine removal.

Alex
Alex Waugh

Graham,
I like your attempt to find a way to get the oil out.
I once tried to get the oil out of brakelinings and did it the old way: using a torch. I remember very well how surprised I was that oil kept coming out. When I stopped the heat, and let it cool down, it appeared to be dry. But heating again, again some oil kept coming. I decided that whenever oil gets into friction material, replecament is the way to go. Hmm, and a clutch lining is soooo deep down inthere....
Greetings, huib
Huib Bruijstens

I guess it's kind of like a bronze "oilite" bushing....Can't see the oil, until it warms up, and it oozes out of the pores....
I would definitely replace the clutch disc,or the material....Not worth the risk ,IMHO.
Edward
E.B. Wesson

Alex, Huib and Edward,

Your comments are very much appreciated, and have given me a lot to think about. When the friction face came as clean as it did, it seemed like it was too easy a fix for the condition. I think I will try a little heat to the face and see if any oil moves up to the surface. I'll let you know what happens.

George
George Raham [TD4224]

Oil Dry/Kitty Litter will draw oil out of any porous material, but it must be in intimate contact and it takes some time. I have cleaned concrete that was a garage floor for many (50+) years - to the point that it looked freshly poured. {as much as 6" of caked grease and dirt; the guy would spill oil then put cardboard down and work on that, but he never picked up the cardboard, so when we chiseled it up the floor was saturated wet with oil} Once you get the worst off, you keep a little layer of finely crushed Oil Dry on it at all times. Simple enough to sweep the floor daily and put a bit of Oil Dry down, then walk and work on it. For spots I put the OD on and then shuffle around on it to crush it and force it into the pores of the concrete; every time I walk past I shuffle a bit, next day it gets new OD. Spots from spilled nasty black drain oil on clean concrete will disappear completely after a few days of this.

If you really want to clean this clutch and have time, crush the clay and put a layer on each side, weight it so that the Oil Dry is forced onto the surface, and change every couple of days.

But, given the nuisance of failure and the price of a clutch disc, it seems a no brainer to just replace it.

FRM
FR Millmore

George,
You really didn't mention how much oil. It is one thing to live with a slight rear main drip, and quite another to have oil soaked brake shoes from a bad rear axle seal.



If you noticed Lee Jacobsen's beautiful '38 SA in the GOF photos, I believe he recently wrote in an email, it took about 30 quarts of oil in the trans & clutch... a wet clutch. I had to reread that.

Jim Northrup

when i had a similar situation the cost of a new clutch disc was an easy trade off versus installing and removing the disc again...but if george decides the risk is worth the cost of a disc, i am interested in his report.
regards, tp
tom peterson

Jim,

I had rebuilt the XPEG block over the winter and installed it in the car in preparation for the trip to Reno. Upon start up, the oil pressure went up to 65 lbs. and it sounded great. I set the throttles at 2000 RPM and let it rev. Checked it all over when the excitment died down. No oil leaking anywhere after 15 minutes running. Went into the garage for about 5 minutes and came back and noted a small puddle of oil under the bell housing. Let it go for another 10 minutes and the puddle was a little bit larger. At this point I turned it off, and realized that block was not going to take me to Reno. Out it came and back in went the original XPAG block. This was only 3 weeks before leaving for Reno. When I got back, I pulled the clutch and flywheel and discovered the rear seal on the camshaft was leaking. The clutch face was not soaked in oil but did get a light misting as it rotated. I have applied heat from a propane torch to the facing in a small area and have not had any oil come to the surface. I think the clutch plate is okay, but I am going to get a new clutch plate and not take a chance on having to take the block out again.

I certainly did notice that beautiful 38 SA. It took my breath away to see it. What a treasure.

Thanks for your interest.

George
George Raham [TD4224]

This thread was discussed between 01/08/2011 and 05/08/2011

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