Hot Rods Oil leak. What a mess!

X2 on what Dirty Old Man said....

 

I am waiting to hear what wix says to ryan. I have been running NAPA gold and have not had a problem

 

Understand your position, Ryan, but disagree on your opinion of "our little forum", LOL! I understand about venting, we all need to vent once in awhile and the occasion has in the past included you being the subject of my vents.
But precisely because Wix has been so bulletproof in the past for most all of us, I'm willing to bet I'm not the only member here who would like to hear what they have for a reply to you. And if you get a reply, what better place to post about it on HAMB but here on this thread where the issue has surfaced?

 

I guess my previous oil filter failure could've been my fault. Stroker BBF, Fram filter, high pressure Kaase oil pump, 20w50 VR-1, deep sump pan w/ 10 quarts total. I normally see 85 to 90psi on cold start up. Hot idle is 40psi. I say my fault because I was running a $6 filter on a $15k engine setup to run higher pressure for its application.

One cold start up I'm feathering the throttle for just a moment until it catches on its own. Cold idle oil pressure creeps up to 90psi. I hop out and look down to see oil on shop floor. Quick shut it off. Fram filter had split right down the seam on the side.

Purchased a K&N oil filter. They are definitely stout pieces. holding it in my hand I could feel the difference in weight and wall thickness of the filter casing. Never have I had another issue. So I'm a fan of their stuff now.

 

Well I cleaned my car up today, it was cold, but not freezing. I can't see what caused the oil leak. I pulled the filter and the gasket, and both look intact. No oil around the sender. I'm thinking maybe the dip stick wasn't seated all the way. It's a bitch to get to. Since I have some time, I'm going to redo the fuel line and maybe move the coil. That'll give me room to pull the dipstick and put it back without being a magician to get to it. With all that being said, I'm going to get a good oil filter per the recommendations here, and put some 10w-30 in it to see if it leaks again. Then I'm going to run 15w-40 all the time.

 

The NAPA store here in town has the NAPA Gold, NAPA platinum, and a K&N filter in stock.

 

When you have the filter off make sure there is not an old filter gasket stuck up in the adaptor. That could also be a cause of a leak.

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I kinda hate the K&N design. That "nut" thing on the bottom doesn't work and gets in the way of a cup wrench. The filter itself seems good and well made.

 

Ok, thanks.

 

Heres what happened to me, SBC the 1/8 brass pipe nipple screws into block, oil pressure sending unit on top of that. Fine for 3 years, noticed small leak, thinking intake rear or rocker gasket. Pulled cover, good, cleaned back of intake, ultra blue. Went on cruise weekend, 250 mile round trip, on way home smelled the oil, park overnight, definatley leaking now. Cleaned up, started up and watched, leaking at block/pipe nipple, fitting cracked at top of thread. Something for you to look at.

 

Good place to look. Avoid using aluminum fittings, I like brass or steel.

 

So how is the crankcase venting laid out? Is it just open to atmospheric pressure or do you have a PCV system of some sort?

 

I don't mean to sound like the grim reaper but if you had that much oil shooting up & out of the dip stick tube then you have serious bottom end issues... so let's hope it isn't that. Busted rings or cracked piston (MAJOR blow by) will cause big time crankcase pressure and shoot oil out the dipstick tube. Been there in my youth. Mild blow by, like from an improper venting setup will cause misting and seeping from where ever it can.

 

Friend of mine had the gasket that sits between the distributor and the intake manifold go bad once. The oil leak was pretty significant from that. Does your engine have a two piece rear main seal? Maybe that went bad?

Reminds me of a joke..... A penguin takes his car to the shop with an oil leak. The mechanic tells him to leave it with him for a couple of hours. It's a nice day so the penguin takes a walk and buys himself a vanilla ice cream cone and eats it on his walk back to the shop. Because of his lack of arms and using his flippers to hold the cone he gets the ice cream all over his face. Upon arriving back at the garage the mechanic says "It looks like you blew a seal". To which the penguin replies "No! That's only ice cream. I swear!"

 

I have an O/T BMW 633 Coupe. I'm 2nd owner, car had a list of things 'wrong', but they were all items on the 60K service list. '83 Coupe, like the racecar McQueen drove. Beauty!
Performed the service, serviced A/C after replacing hoses, etc. Left the oil change for another day, so I could drain it with engine warm.
Wife took it to work 16 miles away, called me after 10 minutes...said she heard a noise, and was sure she spun a con rod brg. Pulled off the freeway, and shut it off. Said there was a preponderance of engine oil on the ground, and a 'trail' for a distance...
I went outside to get in my truck, and noticed a spot where she had been parked...and a 'trail' leading out the drive into the street...then continuing down our street...I followed it, holy shate! It went onto the freeway, and I could follow it for awhile...it never ran out. Until I saw the Coupe at the side of the freeway, CHP parked behind.
Wife was late to work, so as soon as I called my pal Mickey Shaw (with his Rollback) the CHP officer actually took my wife the rest of the way to work!
When I got the BMW back home, I raised the hood and couldn't believe my eyes. The cast aluminum oil canister has an 'O' ring, (100 mm diameter, {4"} in a captive slot).
A 1/4" piece had broken out of there, allowing all 7 quarts of oil to bail out before the oil light even flickered!
For the 'Superior design' of Automotive Engineers from the Fatherland to exude such a failure, I'd go easy on Wix.
Ah, well...It was time for a larger engine anyway. Went to a 3.5...

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Hitler's Revenge"

 

Dave that nut thing on the bottom can be used to spin the filter off in tight spots, works better than using the old strap type wrenches or a cup remover , plus you can safety wire it for some applications

 

a dust pan and a piece of cardboard is the best way to pick up big spills. use a piece of cardboard about 4"x8" as a squeegy to push the oil into the dust pan. the oil can then be put in with the waste oil and it will just need a "dusting" of speedy-dri.

 

A while back, early 80's, we put a 900 mile Buick V-6 out of a wreck in a Model A, first time started after install, blew the filter. Figured it was maybe damaged and we were going to change the oil anyway, so just replaced it and changed the rest of the oil. Don't remember how much later; but after car had been on the road a while, blew the filter again on a cold start. Checked it out and found a small almost invisible ding on the die cast filter housing which only let the oil pressure bypass piston open partially. Far enough to get by with a warm engine; but not far enough if you revved it up too far when starting with cold oil. My friend is kind of fanatical about keeping his garage clean, first time was bad enough, second time he blew it, reacted like it was the end of the world; gonna junk it, never building cars again, etc, etc....

 

It looks like the camshaft seal could be a possible leak and the fan blew the oil around. It looks like it starts right above the cam pulley area.

My T-Bird 2.3 had a bad seal and that is the way the under hood looked.

 

Yeah, I know how it's supposed to work. I've yet to actually get it to do so. The stamped "flats" aren't actually flat, so the wrench just wants to push off rather than turning the filter.

 

The cam pulley doesn't have any oil on it. I thought the same thing. The front of the engine is dry. Today I changed the filter, theoil sender, and put 15w-40 in it. I made sure the dip stick was pushed in all the way, and drove it. Oil everywhere again. I pulled the valve cover off, and I don't see anything wrong. I'm going to replace the gasket, and put on a valve cover that doesn't have the MOON breathers on it. I'm thinking they might be doing it. I still really don't know where it's coming from. I might pull the hood top and drive it, but I really hate to get oil all over the interior, or the rest of the car. I'm stumped on this one. When you run it sitting still I have no oil leak. I let it run a good 15 minutes before I drove it today. It was up to temp at that point. I reved it up numerous time before driving it. Even after it had oil everywhere I couldn't see it leaking. Not sure if I can find a gasket local, so I'll probably have to order it.

 

use a 6pt socket , its not really made for a flat wrench unless you push it against the filter

 

You could try using oil dye and a UV light, and doing some quick roadside checks until you start seeing oil; might be able to spot the source before it covers everything.

 

Or clean it up, sprinkle talcum power over everything. Warm it up, drive 3 minutes, get out and look. Repeat until you see it. One of those things you have to catch in the act.

What is the oil pressure like? Running higher than normal? I was thinking of a stuck bypass. Does it have a road draft tube? All it takes is a good spider nest to block it up.

 

Stumper for sure. So it's not the filter or hardware near it? If it was the breather that would show up fairly well. You're right about hood off, oil on the glass and all would suck worse than Ryan's mess. At least it's not a MK II (did I say that out loud?). I'll chime in too about Fram, pure unadulterated GARBAGE. Ever cut one open after an engine build for inspection? Enough cardboard in there to think it's a toy or classroom demonstration model. Conversely, cut open a Wix and it looks like what a filter should. Metal, springs, proper baffles, etc. Sorry chief, not to rub it in but they really are still the best IMO, but I haven't cut one open in a while.

 

On the Fram filter thing, Fram has a special part number of product they sell to the big-box stores. It adds something like an "A" at the end. Gotta be even cheaper than cheap to make and sure as heck not made in the USA.

 

Is the cam cover or the Moon breathers a recent addition? Are the covers or the breathers baffled where they attach to the cover? Does the dipstick appear to be pushed up out of place after driving a while at higher speeds?

How about posting some detailed pics of the engine from both sides and the inside of the cam cover.

 

So it only does it while driving? Weird. Could it be a slow leak that only shows up under pressure? Maybe instead of just revving it, get a stick and wedge the pedal to bring the engine up to your normal cruise RPM and see if anything shows up. Talc may help here too.

Instead of running with the hood off, bodge up a firewall or underhood mount for a small video camera. Some duct tape and a plastic bag would keep it in place and keep the oil off the camera. Then drive around the block. Come home and review the video to see what's going on without the distraction of trying to drive and watch for leaks at the same time. Might take a couple of tries to catch it happening.