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MG MGB Technical - Tecalemit oil filter seal?

Just a quickie : should there be a rubber seal between the adaptor and the underside of the projection on the side of the block? I would have thought so, but mine might have perished or been lost. Regards, John.
J P Hall

Definitely!! Square section O ring. Fits in the block casting.
Allan Reeling

Agreed. I changed my adapter recently, the old seal still had a little resilience, so even though I had a new seal standing by I decided to try the new adapter with the old seal rather than spend ages digging out the old one from underneath in an awkward and restricted space. A tweak to the centre bolt after running a while and a tiny seep and it's fine.
Paul Hunt

Ha! - a square section seal ... so the first thing I'll do after work today is crawl under and see if the old seal is still there! I couldn't feel anything yesterday, but had in mind a round-section seal. Worst case - does anyone sell just the seal??With thanks, John.
J P Hall

They can appear to be part of the engine if they have been in place for a long amount of time. It may feel like you are touching metal, but the rubber seal becomes so hard over time that it's very deceiving. You should be able to purchase a replacement without having to buy anything else. RAY
rjm RAY

At the risk of being branded a heretic - if it isn't leaking, leave it alone. The oil filter set up in our late TD is basically the same as on the early MGBs and they use the the same filter. Our TD had never leaked any oil around the filter (other areas, yes, but not around the filter housing), so I never replaced the seal. When I restored the car and had the filter assembly off I checked and it looked and felt as though there was no seal in groove at all, but further poking and prodding revealed that there was a seal that was rock hard in place. After much work, I managed to remove the seal in small pieces, cleaned the groove and installed the larger of the three seals that came in the box with the new filter. I did have some problems with the filter housing sealing correctly, but with a fair amount of fiddling with the seal I was confident that I had gotten it correct.

Fast forward 6 months My wife and I took off bright and early to attend the Western Washington All British Field Day, about a 70 mile drive. We did fine until we got to the Tacoma Narrows bridge. The traffic was heavy that day and I wasn't watching the oil pressure closely and as accelerated up the incline of the bridge, I was greeted with a loud clattering from under the bonnet. I let off the accelerator and again pressed down on it, only to be greeted with more clattering. After the ride of shame in the cab of a two truck taking us home (and listening to the radio about a traffic jam on the Tacoma Narrows bridge caused by a small sports car stalled on the bridge - more shame), I pulled the engine to make the necessary repairs. While the engine was out, I pulled the oil pump/filter assembly and found that the thicker of the three seals had never been seated in the groove. After much research, I found that the mid thickness seal should have been the one used. Since then I have installed the proper seal and have never taken it out, tightening the filter housing just sufficient to stop any leaks. Cheers - Dave


DW DuBois

"if it isn't leaking, leave it alone"

My thoughts exactly. I have also never re-annealed or routinely replaced a sump washer and never had leaks from there either.
Paul Hunt

Funny you should say that, Dave & Paul. Yesterday (Wednesday is my midweek day off - a privilege of owning small business) I prodded and poked around under the oil filter housing circumference on the block; originally that circumference provided a location for the metal of the canister or a filter, but for several years it has provided a location for the aluminium surface of the Tecalemit spin-on filter adapter. While it looked like a flat metal surface near the outer rim, careful pressing revealed a slight "give" - it was indeed a flat profile rubber surface! My first thought was "ahah - prise it out and put in a nice clean new one". My second thought was "No, it wasn't leaking before, and you don't have a new one ... so leave it in place and finish the *#@*@#* job".

Conclusion: more by good luck than good judgement, I have avoided making yet another mistake ... it wouldn't be the last, but at least I'm in good company!

Thanks for your input as always. Regards, John.


J P Hall

I did the same mistake as Dave D with my 54 TF. After a few miles a car behind me used its horn in a very commanding fashion so I pulled over and saw the oily lifeline of my beloved XPEG engine up the road behind me. The engine needed close to 3 liters of oil to be back to normal oil level. I probably was only a few minutes away from a destroyed engine. Pulling the filter cartridge I found the old rock hard seal under the new, twisted seal.

Regards, Jan
Jan Emil Kristoffersen

Of course my original enquiry was about the seal between the block and the Tecalemit adapter fitted by a PO, but the cautionary tales provided by Dave and Jan apply equally to the seal between filter and block or filter and adapter.We never stop learning! John.
J P Hall

This thread was discussed between 01/02/2016 and 05/02/2016

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