ok, so I bought an '84 Brat for the enormous sum of $300. the guy told me that it's got problems, but I figured that for $300, I can't go wrong. after quite a qhile cleaning the motor, I've gotten most of the grime off the motor itself, I can start tracking down oil leaks. the valve covers were leaking really badly, so I carefully removed, cleaned and re-gasketed them, with a little film of silicone to seal it up right. so now, I fire up the motor and start looking for more leaks. I know I'm going to have to do the head gaskets (also leaking), but that's another job. suddenly I see a drip coming dorn the back of the motor, on the passenger side. it's coming from one of the bolts that holds the block halves together! I pulled it out partially, cleaned around it and re-tightened it to to spec, but another block bolt is leaking too (at least one more). anybody ever seen these bolts leaking oil? I can only assume that the sealant between the halves has given out and is allowing oil out the holes. a rebuild would be best, but would just re-tightening the bolts untill I can get around to rebuilding be alright?

I'm not disheartened by this, as I bought the car knowing it would be a project, but I can't exactly tear the motor apart right away...

thanks in advance...

~Erik~

(fairly new) Subaru dealership technician

i had this problem on a somewhat similar engine, the EA82 derived ER27. the engine ran great and had no issues other than oil consumption and smoking when the leaking oil hit the exhaust. that was really annoying. i did as you mentioned, tightened the leaky bolts, then tried tightening them some more and could not get the oil to stop leaking. it is certainly driveable, the smoking exhaust hitting oil being the most annoying aspect. keep oil in it and it should run fine.

yeah, I'm not terribly concerrned about the wellbeing of the motor (I'm fanatic about things like oil levels, etc), but I would just rather not have any oil coming out of the engine in the first place. You say that you never did get the block to stop leaking? alas...looks like a rebuild sooner than expected...probably just a re-ring and gasket, really.

Any other input anybody?

 

BTW, anybody know of a good supplier of rebuild kits?

 

~Erik~

I'd throw some Ultra-Grey sealant on the bolts and give it whirl. The worst thing it could do is leak again.