Technical Oil literally everywhere.

Recently put a new motor (sbc 350) in my truck. Had a oil leak at high rpm. I run under 2500rpm all day long an see not a drop of oil, get on it and oil blows all over the truck.

Looked like timing chain cover gasket was breaking, so this afternoon I put new timing chain gasket, balancer seal, water pump gaskets on. Just got back from test drive and its leaking more then it ever did before I changed gaskets.

I've been tracking this for well over a week now. Any other things I should look at? And again from idle to 2000-2500 rpm not a drop of oil. Get on it and oil blows.

Thanks
David.

 

Also running a fuel pump block off plate but just put a new gasket on it a few days ago.

 

Great oil pressure, and runs like a new motor should. Just leaks.

 

ck for the bolt hole on front of block near fuel pump-one of these goes thru to the fuel pump rod cavity

 

What he^^^ said...

 

For what it's worth (and to show how dumb I was) the last engine I built didn't get installed for several years, finally got it up and running last year, had (and still have) some issues but the big one was when I came back from a drive and oil is running out on the ground. I thought maybe the pan gasket wasn't sealed correctly and I couldn't (seem) find the leak, and it had to be a big one. I pulled the engine to put a new pan gasket in (no there wasn't enough clearance to do it any other way), had the engine back in place and was about to put the radiator grille assembly back on (1938 Chevy) and spied a hole in the passenger side head that looked oily. I pulled out my trusty knife, shoved it in the hole, yep, it went right into the valve/rocker arm area, put a bolt in it and solved the problem. I'd never used those heads before so had no idea they needed a bolt to hold the oil back. Dumb me

 

Ya I'm callin myself dumb right now. Went and looked at my old motor and there's a bolt in the top hole on the face of the fuel pump mounting boss. Put a bolt in it and I'll try it tomorrow

 

Glad you found it--not the 1st time this has happened and I'm sure not the last-easy to overlook

 

make sure the bolt is very short, too long and it will hit the fuel pump rod . use the one from the old motor to be safe.

 

Sounds like you found it, but just in case, if it is an older set of heads that didn't have the accessory holes in it for brackets, etc, make sure someone in the past didn't drill holes in them to mount brackets. They are usually drilled right into the rocker arm cavity. If you don't plug them with a short bolt, you will have oil out of the hole. Ask me how I know.

 

Make sure your pvc stuff is working ,if it builds up any pressure it will leak a lot.

 

Well it looks like the bolt I put in last night is staying dry. But now the front of the pan is leaking, which I just put a seal on yesterday. Motors coming out tomorrow morning.

 

Before I knew about the bolt hole in the front of the fuel pump mounting boss, I concocted gobs of different sticky substances to hold the rod up whilst I put the new pump on. Thanks to Frank Loomer, who educated me.

 

Garage night at the Stewarts!!!

 

How are the rings? I'm assuming when you say you put a new engine in you mean "new to you" and not new as in out of the crate. The engine in my '57 does something similar to what yours is doing. It doesn't really smoke noticeably until you stomp it, in which case there is a lot of smoke out of the exhaust. The PCV can't begin to keep up with the blow-by, and there is noticeable pressure vented out of the breather. I used to have a set of vintage Cal-Custom valve covers with no breather, just the PCV, and it blew out my valve cover gasket and was leaking like a sieve. I put a regular set of chrome valve covers on with a breather, and it definitely vents blow-by, but stopped the gaskets from blowing out. The issue I have now is the blow-by fills the engine compartment with oil vapor, and then I get oil drips more generally. I figured the best way to combat the issue I have, short of pulling the engine and rebuilding it, is putting in a crankcase evacuation system as opposed to a PCV. I might try that soon.

 

You know you're more than welcome any time. Just not tonight lol

 

Date night?

 

no, just not home. Don't feel like messing with it anyway right now. Start fresh in the morning.

 

I think at one time or two we've all had the missing bolt in the head leak.

 

What he said! ^^^

Is the crankcase properly vented?

 

When you change the pan gasket, make sure the front seal on the gasket matches the timing cover. They used two different styles, the 1955-73 design uses a thin seal, 1974-up uses a thick seal. If you use the thin seal instead of the thick one, it will leak pretty well. But there could be other issues too.

I really like the modern one piece oil pan gaskets. Kind of expensive, but worth it.

 

Have the pcv system hooked up the same way as the old motor, and actually have another breather equalling 2, so it should work better no?

Squirrel, are you referring to the one piece pan gasket that fits in the bottom of the timing cover. I checked the old vs new before installing yesterday and they matched.

To me it looks like oil is running between the front edge of oil pan, and the backside of timing cover(backside of where the bottom "u" shaped seal sits on the timing cover)

 

This is the kit I installed yesterday.

 

Yes, that's the one I mean. Just make sure that the seal that goes between the pan and timing cover is the correct thickness.

What do you have for a timing cover? I've had trouble getting the chrome ones to seal...I much prefer an old original painted cover.

 

It's probably been said here before, but...

The (4) bolt holes in the front of the block are for mounting the old Tri-5 front "mushroom" pedestal mounts.

And the one hole by the fuel pump pushrod location can be used to pinch the p/r back to help when changing fuel pumps. Just make sure to use some good old Indianhead and a short bolt in that location or she will weep oil..

pdq67

 

I have an original. Painted. No paint on gasket surface, not all tweaked either.

And use a gasket like this that replaces the black seal correct?

 

That's what I used when I redid my pan and timing cover the blue one piece pan gasket. Worked out real nice. (no leaks)

 

I have a feeling that's what I used on the 1st motor that was in the truck but I can't remember that far back. Going to try and do as much without pulling the motor, I really don't want to do that. If I need to do the pan, hopefully there's enough room above my crossmember.

 

Make sure the front of the pan gasket is the correct thickness for the specific timing cover you have. Thin gasket for the older one, thicker for the newer ones. you didn't post any pictures of your engine, so we are guessing what you have.

 

What is the part number on that one piece gasket?