Engine out, looking at the flywheel and crankcase spigot bush and the amount of grease still evident in the housing it seems like i must have packed it with grease rather than just give it a wipe with grease. Having looked in the tin of grease that i used there is a layer of oil on the top and it would appear for some reason that the grease is turning back to a liquid state and then run back along the shaft and drained down between the clutch plate. Clearly a case of less is more. I am not going to risk cleaning and re-using the clutch plate.
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As the rear rope seal had an annoying drip i decided to strip the engine and get a rubber lip seal machined in to the crankcase and have the fly wheel re-surfaced at the same time. I got these done at OCS in Winchester, the machining for the oil seal cost £84 inc vat and the flywheel cost £72 inc vat. the oils seal comes as part of the sump gasket set from Rimmer's £15 inc vat.
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In the few days i was waiting for the crankcase to be machined i have also removed the power steering box to find out why it was leaking so badly. I can honestly say getting the engine out was easier than removing the power steering box. It turns out that the bottom oil seal had been sliced by a small ridge around the shaft where the spline stops, there is no reason for this ridge to be there so i will file it down before fitting a new seal. Fortunately the oil seal sits further up the shaft than where the pitting is.
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