Is it engine oil or transmission oil? Engine oil getting into the clutch
means a big leak or the flywheel is loose or the o-ring inside it is
missing. Gear oil could be as simple as the transmission is overfilled or
the pilot bearing, input shaft is shot, the engine to trans bolts are loose,
or that seal is gone. Gear oil does an outstanding job of making the clutch
slip.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Fuzzy :philippe
Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 4:34 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Oil leak when engine has been warm for a couple of hours

My '87 Van 2.1L Auto has been developing a new problem over the last
few months. It seems that when I've been driving for a while (a couple
of hours or more), oil starts to leak close to the clutch (and
seemingly *on* the clutch), causing it to start slipping and burning
the oil (causing lots of white smoke).

When the van has a change to cool down (say overnight, or a few hours)
the problem isn't there anymore (no oil leaking, no smoke, barely any
clutch slipping), until the engine is again warm and the problem
happens again.

I'm wondering if the oil pressure doesn't go up when the engine is
warm, causing it to leak where the main axle goes from clutch into the
engine.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

Philippe