LA120 Drip, drip, drip and lime-scale/calcium

[Jhon]

My parents have an LA120, it also had the very same oil leak. The gasket has slipped out between the two case halves. You will need a new pan gasket and crankshaft seal. The pan gasket is very simple, but the shaft seal can be a real bear and you may end up having to replace it two or three times to get it to seal. My local tech told me I was very lucky that I got it right the first time.

How many hours on it when the seal leaked?

 

[mullins87]

I can't tell you at this moment, I don't remember how many hours it had on it when they bought it. But here is the story: They bought it from a family member claiming it was in great shape..big mistake. It was leaking when they got it, but the family member never bothered to clean it up, so he didn't notice what I would call a large leak. Of course, I gave it a good bath when they got it. I saw all the oil and dirt on the frame and side of the engine, but it was near the oil filter, so I thought he wasn't careful when changing the filter. Not 15 minutes running time after the bath, I noticed oil everywhere under the filter. I tried tightening the bolts, just like you did, and that didn't work. After deciding a repair was in order and getting the gasket and crank seal, I pulled the engine. When I pulled the sump/oil pan off, it appeared the gasket was never completely in place when the engine was assembled. It appeared as if a section of the gasket between the two bolts under the filter either simply slipped out before the bolts were tightened, or it may have been defective. There wasn't any gasket residue to remove in that spot before I put the new one on.

As far as hours, without being able to look at the hour meter now, I'd guess at 250 to 400 hours.