Vitesse overdrive oil leak

[flying_fox]

To my dismay today I found for a xmas gift an "oil pool" below the gearbox / overdrive,
The car has been stationary for some 9 months,
Any reader comment on the chance that a refill may swell up the gaskets ?
Or is it necessary to strip out and replace them ugh ugh

[Nick Jones]

None whatever......

However, it is worth checking the all the bolts that hold the OD adaptor plate (alloy) to the main casing (iron) are present and tight.  IIRC some of them go through into the oil and are supposed to have sealant on the threads or copper washers to prevent the oil coming through.  The bottom bolt in the bellhousing is the same but can only be accessed with the gearbox off the engine.

Also drain plugs and whatever.  With the car raised it may be possible to see the source of the leak?

Nick

[Nick Moore]

If the car was parked on a slope, oil may have slowly leaked past a seal, either on the gearbox input shaft or the overdrive's output shaft. The short term solution is to park it level!