Wits End - Leaking Oil

There's a breather tube on the right side. Could oil be coming from that? I have removed the distributer and can see oil leaking down the side of the engine from the pushrod chamber access plate on the right side of the engine, which is attached to the breather tube. The gasket must be bad, so I will replace that gasket but am not sure if oil should be behind that plate. Is oil being forced out the breather because oil is building up behind the access plate? I'm losing about one quart per 2 hours.

This is making me real grumpy. Anybody have any hints on what I am missing or what I can do to fix this leak?

Rev.

I have a story also. My 6.2 Chevy diesel had an oil leak. I really hadn't examined it closely. One day I was changing oil, and had reached the point of 4L of new oil back in crankcase. Went back under truck just to double check I had thightened filter and plug. While under truck I took a closer look at pan. My leaked oil was only on flat surface on bottom of oil pan. Clearly it was not a crank seal as I had been expecting to find. I got some rags and cleaner, soon found 3 pin hole leaks. Pan seemed very solid even close to pin holes. Sat.pm and I thought where could I ever get this repaired quickly. I decided NO way. Looked around my shop to see what products I might have for a sealer as a temporary fix. Gasket maker or black was all I could find. Back under truck sanded surface and cleaned it a bit. These pin holes were very slow, similar to blood if you picked your finger with needle. I marked exact location of pin holes, removed oil and cleaned throughly. With tip of finger I forced gasket maker into pin holes. After drying some I applied more on surface, actually did about 3 coats building a patch over entire area of the 3 pin holes. Refilled engine with oil, it didn't leak. About 7 years and 150,000 miles later it still didn't leak. In fact I sold the truck for parts in 2001 as frame was rusted and broken. The buyer put engine in a 4x4 truck he only uses for snow plowing. He gave me good money for that truck, mainly because engine sounded good and had no leaks. I did tell him about the oil pan. His reaction, "If it held for 7 years and 150,000 miles on a diesel, probably wasn't going to fail soon.

Since that time I've always taken a second look at quick easy fixes. Believe me it can save a lot of dollars.

Use permatex blue silicone. Run a bead all the way around the pange flange, on the outside of the holes, all that is needed is a bead about 1/8" wide or a touch more. More is not better. After you have the flange bead of silicone on around the outside of the bolt holes, lay semi circle beads of silicone around the bolt holes and join them back up to the main bead you ran earlier. Drop the gasket on and do the same thing on the engine side. Make sure everything is squeaky clean, NO OIL ANYWHERE!

When you get ready to lift the pan into place, have a few pan bolts ready with silicone around the threads near the head to hang the pan, silicone the rest of the bolts as well and hand tighten. Then tighten the bolts to snug, (about 2/3rds of the way tight, dont squish out the cork gasket, tighten to where it just starts to squish out, pay attention), let it sit 24 hours. If that doesnt get it, I have not a clue, outside of a blocked breather.

scott#2

When you Permatex the gasket to the pan, squish the gasket down into place and let the Permatex set up overnight. This makes it easier to reinstall the pan, and almost eliminates the chance the gasket can shift or pop out.

Mark W.

The crankcase breather, I assume, provides the venting. When I remove the access plate and breather Thursday, I will check the filter that is supposed to be in there according to the parts manual. However, I notice when the engine is pulling very hard and the exhaust starts to smoking, the breather is also pumping a lot of smoke towards the ground. Maybe it is still pugged up, or maybe I have too much blowby. I'm not sure that much blowby is OK.