They're pretty common for having the crank seals start to leak. I replaced them this past winter on my 16 horse. Pretty easy job.

 

@fortyeightjake thanks! Im a noob to small engine work outside of an oil change / filter change. Assume you’re well versed in this stuff but curious if there is a YT video you used to assist?

 

No problem. This video should help you get the general idea of what to do. Check out Partstree or something if you need help getting the shrouds off to get to that point.

 

I was on-board with this (I like a lot of Taryl's vids actually) until he went and slobbered that black silicone sealant on that seal as "insurance". That seal puller is mint. I have a slide hammer kit already but assembling your own is .

On that Vanguard, make sure the crankcase breather is working properly. If there is positive pressure in the crankcase, new seals won't fix the issue. And the OPs vid shows a LOT of leakage. More than I'd expect on an engine with just worn seals. I'd get the shrouds off it ASAP, get it cleaned up with some soap and water, and that will help identify where the oil is coming from and what the fix should be.

 

@MasterMech @fortyeightjake - appreciate your help to this point

Fully expecting you to say this is the worst inner you’ve seen but I really don’t know how clean these are expected to be.
Is it critical to remove all shrouds? Didn’t want to get to far ahead of myself but too, I don’t know that I can remove all without removing a ton more attachments.

I personally couldn’t tell where new oil was coming from, looked like old oil was liquifying from each side.

Engine Running
Post Run 1
Post Run - Left Side Bubbling

 

Yeehaw, what a mess. I took my whole engine out when I did mine (garden tractor) and replaced most of the seals on the outside of the engine. I would try to scrape off as much as you can and then pressure wash to start getting a better look. Mine looked pretty similar to that, the oil was dripping out the crank seal and slinging around that shroud until it was caked up enough to start overheating.

When I did mine, i replaced the dipstick o-ring and seal, breather gasket and tube, rocker cover gaskets, oil filer adapter gasket, and front and rear crank seals (my main issue).

 

Is it an absolute must to have an engine lift in that scenario?

 

Mix up a batch of soapy water. Use dish soap that advertises "grease cutting" abilities. Get it cleaned up decent and you will have a much easier time seeing where all the oil is coming from. You don't have to get every shroud off, but you do need to get all that dirt out of those cooling fins.

 

Recently had a Vanguard V-Twin 35HP horizontal leaking oil at crankcase cover and PTO oil seal. This is on an new grain auger. After receiving replacement parts, removed the crankcase cover and found there was no gasket, just RTV silicone. The cover showed that the silicone had not stuck at the bottom and several other points of the cover, thus the leak. I assume, that the mating surfaces had oil residue so the silicone couldn't stick. The old oil seal showed evidence that it had flipped in two spots, thus another oil leak.
Question for the forum, anyone ever seen NO gasket on the crankcase by Vanguard V-Twin?

 

No crankcase gasket is actually pretty common on a bunch of small engines. When putting them together, I like to use RTV specifically made to resist oil contamination and if you can avoid filling the crankcase for 24+hours, all the better.

Whatever happened to just parking an old Super C or an H to run the auger? 😅

 

You need to clean those cooling fins ASAP!!! The Vanguards are also know for letting the exhaust valve guide loose due to overheating and then you need a new head. It's not horribly expensive but i'm sure you'd prefer not to have to do that. You really need to remove everything from the engine and find out exactly where it's coming from and that'll probably mean removing it from the machine. They're not very heavy at all so you'll have no problem removing it and carrying it to where you'll work on it. I had to replace the crankcase gasket in my 16hp vanguard and it wasn't too bad.

 

Those vtwins will suck the crank case gasket in to the block just below the oil fill tube the casting in this spot is very thin so the gasket is also very thin. I’ve done 3 of these now and I wil take a Center punch and lightly dimple the casting in this area to roughen it up then use a little rtv or loctite gasket maker to glue the gasket in