Hi Guys - just wondering what is involved to fix a small oil leak on a rod change box, where the selector sticks out (and the shift rod connects to)? Does the seal simply pull out?

Tom , the seal will just pull out (hook it with a small screw driver or a seal picker if you have one), or if you want to be dodgy you can just ram another one in over the top of the old one ...... They are a reasonably common leak but a new seal will slow it for a while , maybe not stop it altogether but will slow it . Best is to get one of Matt's (TheMiniMan) super dooper O-ring seals and put it in as well . A new seal will mostly stop the leak though .

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Thanks Ian, it's only a tiny leak - rego won't care, but would like to own a mini that didn't leak (too much ) I thought I'd wait till the motor was in the car to fix these things ... The van is now driveable - getting closer.

Tiny leak's aren't worth worrying too much over , it's a mini after all .... Just keep an eye on it and park it on the grass or the dirt . Make sure you give the engine a good degrease before going for the blue slip too , I've seen perfectly good motor's failed for Blue Slips because they had a bit of old oil on them and the inspectors thought that meant they were still leaking . Your's is nice and clean from memory but give the back of the diff area a clean just before going in to make sure it doesn't look like it's leaking ....

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To be able to park on driveways like the other cars do! I hit the motor with some blue jam after I got it, so it looks nice and fresh..

I rememberred that after typing the reply , shouldn't have any drama's .

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Matt the miniman makes a part to fix this problem and i fitted one a couple of months ago and it is working a treat, if your going to do it do it right and give matt a PM

Jon

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Roundies and Clubbies(except vans) are both ugly that is why I have Midas and a van
1293 Mini Midas Bronze,1275 Clubman van

I replaced this seal on my clubby a while ago and i found it quite difficult to get out. i couldn't hook it with a screwdriver properly and just ended up damaging the seal. I didn't damage the shaft though

I found that the easiest way to get it out was to use a dremel to drill a small hole through the seal and then screw a self-tapping screw into the hole. Then you can grab the head of the self tapper with some pliers and pull it out. there are some details on removing it here:

http://www.ime.org.uk/ime/g/gear_change_seal_removal.html

I found that behind my seal there was another seal, but i got that out using the same method. then i fitted the new one and it still leaks, although it improved a bit

The most I have found jammed in there have been 5 seals , the last one was only half in and the rest were squished up nicely , it still leaked oil though ..... A lot of dodgy mechanics liked to use a deep socket and a BFH to ram new seals over the old ones rather than take a few minutes to get the old one out .....

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Thanks for the help, I'll see how bad it is - might be wise to leave it alone by the sounds of it.

I'll chase up the miniman and let you know the results.

I assume all the seals are the same, but the most i would have been able to fit in mine is about 2 and a half seals, without hammering the rest until they got majorly squashed.

I didn't find it particularly difficult to change the seals, it was just a bit of a hassle. i had to jack the front of the car up a fair bit to get under it, and removing the pin that holds the shifter to the gearbox was a bit difficult (would have helped if i used a proper drift instead of a piece of steel rod )

Drilling through the seals and removing them was really quite easy, although you have to be careful not to damage the shaft. I don't know if a full size drill would fit in there either.

That said, it is not that difficult to live with a car that leaks a little oil either . It will be a while before i can be bothered getting under there again to try and fix it properly.

They were majorly squashed , for a long time it used to be the done thing to push another seal on top of the first one when it was leaking , I guess a lot just didn't bother checking how many were in there and squashed another one in ....

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