Drained my oil from the mini in preparation of changing the drive shaft seals (which are leaking)

I found this on the sump-plug. I believe it is from a seal of some sort.

I have now removed both driveshaft seals and it is not from them.

So.... I'm thinking it could be from the primary gear seal (the one in behind the fly-wheel) as there does appear to be some oil coming from the split pin that hangs from the hole under the flywheel casing (the casing between the bell housing and the block)

What are peoples thoughts?

Included in pics is my sump-plug so you can see the size of it.

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Could be a valve seal spring
put it end to end in a circle and see how large a circle it makes
they can come off , especially after a big rev
pull your tappet cover off and see if there is any laying around inside the head

Mark

I think Mark could be on to something.

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I have an Addiction just not the time.......
1966 Morris Mini Deluxe http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=80459
1968 Morris 1100 viewtopic.php?f=3&t=101555

I didn't think it was big enough for a primary seal, so thought it was only part of it.... but your idea seams better

Ok... So this could be what stops the oil leaking into the bore?
So I would now be burning some oil? Which I think I am which has been noticeable since my last oil change.
So it should be about the size of the thickness of the valve step, when made into a circle?

And I assume it can only be fixed by taking the head off?

So If I pull my tappet cover off and there isn't any other piece of spring floating around / hanging out of a valve hole, How can I tell?.

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You shouldn't have to take your head off IF it is the valve stem seal have a look at this picture it shows where the seal is located. You can actually see the spring we think it could be. You should be able to see this through your valve springs although you might need to get your head on the right angle. And yes it will cause your engine to burn a little bit of oil but if one has fail the others probably aren't far behind.

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I have an Addiction just not the time.......
1966 Morris Mini Deluxe http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=80459
1968 Morris 1100 viewtopic.php?f=3&t=101555

Ahh yes. I know what it is now. I couldn't think of what it was. Thankyou for the picture.

And my other questions are now self explanatory

I had a look at the spring and curled it and I think it is as suggested. Funny I have never had one of these go before and the head is probably only 30 000kms old Maximum since rebuild.

I will check it out tomorrow. Thankyou for providing me the answer.

Cheers

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no worries I haven't seen a spring break before either, the seals do fail and I've seen the springs lose tension, hopefully it is that, it's an easy fix and pretty easy to get to.

and a picture was the easiest way to explain where it was.

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I have an Addiction just not the time.......
1966 Morris Mini Deluxe http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=80459
1968 Morris 1100 viewtopic.php?f=3&t=101555

Pardon my ignorance,

I know oil drains down to the sump from the head via the tappet chest, over the cam followers & onto the cam, but how could that valve guide seal spring get down to the sump?
Or does the oil drain down another way I don't know of?

Cheers Shane

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If it's not a Cooper S, the mini was designed to be modified!

It's a bullet head nail that's lost its head

It goes down a pushrod hole, into the oil drain gallery and gets flushed into the gearbox by the oil that drains down there through the 2 big drain holes.

Most 1275 valve stem seals had no spring on them, until they brought out the Metro in UK.
These BMC/BL seals (PVC) all go hard with age & heat, spring or no spring- then they don't seal. You can now get Viton ones that stay flexible and don't harden with the heat.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

This would be a valve stem seal, from a new seal.
Found it when checking the rocker clearance.

Showed a mate today and told him I thought it was a Valve stem seal and he was ok with that interpretation. Said he wouldn't bother trying to fix it, just leave it, its nothing major.

He showed me how these springs are just screwed into each other end-to-end and that's why one end is tapered.

I always thought they were a single continuous spring. So I learn something new today

So the one I showed would have just come undone, not broken like I originally thought.

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