Hello V8 Buick People. I am a brand new member and this is my first post, please be gentle. My 1970 Riviera has went from a very minor rear crank seal leak to a must repair situation as of yesterday. My question is: can I repair this leak at home in my garage without removing the engine or transmission? If I remove my radiator shroud and unfasten the engine mounts, would it be possible to jack the front of the engine up high enough to remove the oil pan?
welcome! read this thread: http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/rear-seal-leaking-do-i-hafta-pull-the-engine.90983/
Reading some of your recommended threads it looks like my minor rear seal oil leak could have been increased by a plugged PCV valve rolling down the highway at speed. I have been driving the car low speed in downtown traffic last couple of weeks. Yesterday was my first one hour trip at 55-65mph down the expressway. Maybe my PCV system caused the excessive leak??
Welcome to the board! That wouldn’t be unheard of, excessive crankcase pressure could definitely cause it to push oil out of places it normally wouldn’t go. To verify that your pcv works, take the valve out of the top of the intake and shake it like a paint can. If it makes no noise, it’s bad
Thanks! We have perfect work on your engine weather here in Southeast Iowa today. I will rattle the PCV first thing.
Big relief, good news! I removed the transmission torque converter cover to verify if the engine crankshaft rear seal was the source of the oil leak. Where the flexplate is attached to the crankshaft both are dry with no fresh oil. The flexplate and the torque converter are also dry. Good news is I am very happy engine oil is not coming from my rear crank seal. Bad news is some how oil ran down the back of the engine, got into the torque converter cover and was coming out the cover vent hole. During my one hour drive at highway speed yesterday my oil level now is one quart low and left a oil dribble up my concrete driveway when I pulled in. The wife was not happy. I now have the car up on jack stands. When I get the oil cleaned up I will start the engine with the converter cover removed and try to determine where the leak originates.
Check the rear of the cylinder heads, sometimes a valve cover will leak towards the rear and oil will follow the rear of cylinder head down motor to the area you found wet....Jim
sometimes the driving wind sprays the oil from a leak to the rear of the engine block so maybe you will find the leak in a different place when the car is on jack stands btw: show us your riviera, we all love pics
I'm new to posting pictures. This is car after I purchased it last December. I am just now getting to drive it after many problems to be addressed. Converted front drum brakes to Jamco disc brakes. New rear drum pads and wheel cylinders. New rear axle bearings. TA Performance three inch exhaust system. Lots of other tender loving care things.
nice looking riviera! and a pretty rare combination without the vinyl top, the full body fender skirts and the side moldings its not a "riviera I", "riviera II" or "riviera III" because it has side moldings, the full bodied skirts, but no vinyl top read this:
It's pretty cool to see original Buick sales pitches of available options. Back in the day (1974 ish) I bought a used 1970 Riviera. That car was a beige color with a brown vinyl top and the high mini skirts. We moved from Iowa to Indiana for a new job that turned out to be a dead end and returned to Iowa a year later. While in Indiana the wife and I decided to visit an apple orchard to buy a bushel of apples. Later in the evening on the return trip a thunderstorm came up. The dark asphalt road was barely visible and very twisty. We came to a hard left corner going about 50mph. The right tires slipped of into the soft muddy shoulder and dug in rolling the 1970 Riviera straight up onto the passenger side. I ended up laying on top of my pregnant wife and our dachshund puppy with a bushel of apples scattered on top of us. Worried the car might catch fire, I lifted the driver side door, the wife passed me the dog and I threw him out, the wife climbed out over me and then I climbed out. When I jumped down obviously I was pretty excited and pissed while the thunderstorm was drenching us. I walked around the car and out of frustration slammed my fist into the upright car. The car rocked and bounced down onto the asphalt. We all got into the car for shelter. I decided to see if the Riv would start. We were amazed when the 455 fired right up. I drove it home. Other than denting the passenger side sheet metal the car drove fine. When we returned to Iowa a friend helped me repair the cosmetic damage and repaint. That was one tuff car. All these years I have kept a lookout for another 70 Riv. I found this one in Ft Worth Texas shortly before Christmas last year. Have installed new brakes with front converted to disc. New Holley Street Avenger carb. New Ta Performance three inch exhaust. Someone had installed a small block radiatior and an eighteen inch seven blade fan. I had a radiator shop build me up an original brass heavy duty radiator. I'm still looking for a twenty inch five blade offset fan like was originally on the car with air conditioning. Now we have a low rider cruiser with great memories of our first 70 Rib.
