How do I fix an oil leak on a 1973 VW Beetle?

the oil leaks from the 8 bolts.How do I fix an oil leak on a 1973 VW Beetle?
The VW beetle has 2 areas from oil leaks.








First, the flywheel seal can leak and is often looked as if the oil is leaking from the flywheel or clutch area. The engine has to be pulled and the cause of the leaking seal checked out. There are several causes of a leaking flywheel seal which in include: a) excessive crankshaft end play which must be adjusted by installing shims along with a new seal. .





The second and most common problem is oil leaking from the push rod tubes. The tubes often rust through and have to be replaced using new tubes along with new tube seals. I am going to recommend a repair manual which gives complete instructions for this repair.





In addition check the valve cover gaskets and the oil drian plate gasket.How do I fix an oil leak on a 1973 VW Beetle?
8 bolts? You must mean the ones around the drainplug. Maybe just snug them up a bit more? Or, get an ';oil strainer'; gasket set; and replace that one(which means you have to drain the oil from the engine first, then take off the 8 nuts, remove the plate and the strainer and take off the gasket against the block, wipe the surface clean and put on 1 gasket/ then clean the strainer and put that up and then the second gasket and the ';steel plate'; and put on the copper washers and nuts again and tighten them up again. No need for ';goop or other gasket glue crap'; as this is normally taken off with every oil change to be sure the strainer mesh is not clogged with crap(I have seen tree leaves in the mesh). The strainer is the filter. That is good enough. (must be so, for the engine that lasts 500,000 miles). Now if everything is tightened up properly it won't leak.


The ';only reason'; any engine leaks from the crankshaft seals or pushrod tubes is because compression pressure is getting into the crankcase and exerting a force against rubber seals(which were not designed to take any pressure.


In other words, you got ';blow by'; as driving pressure blows by the piston rings.


It is a part of natural engine wear over time and miles.


However, the leak you are speaking of though is from someone not changing the gaskets with new ones.(which is basically mandatory for paper gaskets).
I have seen many of the drain plates dimpled by over zealous oil changers.





The fix is to put the plate on a solid surface and lay the round end of a ball-peen hammer in the hole and slightly dimple it in the other direction.





If worried about your dimpling skills, you can replace it with a new one.





Then do the new gasket/screen/gasket replacement. I agree with the ';no sealer'; comment.





If one of your 8 studs is stripped- you can helicoil repair the block, or there is an over sized (on one end) replacement stud you can re/tap and put in.





As far as locktite is concerned, That will make the studs come out with the cap nut. Which is OK, but will tend to wear out the threads in the block. It was designed with studs for a reason. Also; there is one of those studs which holds the oil pick up on some engines. so if that gets loose, you will have a 6mm nut floating round the engine and the possibility of a loose oil pick up.
replace your pushtube, oil sump gasket, head cover gaskets, and if is still leaks your gunna have to pull the motor and replace the main seals.
Try replacing the oil pan gasket and using loctite. Hope this helps