When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I am back on the car, now focused on the oil leak. I grabbed a new gasket (1 piece FP), and pulled the started and oil cooler off in preparation for the replacement. I wanted to have you guys look at a few pictures of what I am seeing before I drop the pan for advice.
I am guessing that it came out from the block side and bled under the started. I do see the smallest amount of glisten near the block/gasket.
I also saw a tiny drop at the bottom of the rear main. I do not see any oil on the flywheel. It doesn't look to me like it is coming from the rear of the pan. There is some wetness on the dust shield that looks to be coming from the started going to the rear main.
I think it looks clean all the way around the front and sides.
Before I drop the pan again, what do you guys think, and how would you approach it?
The pic of the crank is a typical RMS leak. The aftermarket pan would be more common leaking but that crank pic would point more towards the RMS although RMS is not a common leak
Dropping pan is a PIA and pulling tranny, clutch & FW is no walk in the park either
You could try oil dye to better indicate source before dropping anything. Need a black light to see it "glow"
wipe everything down first. You can use a thin screw driver and a piece of rag or paper towel to wipe the crank drop. Been there and done that on a hard to find oil leak.
As frustrating as it was...it was not the pan or RMS...it was the RMS adapter gasket which required not only dropping pan but tranny, clutch & FW. HUGE PIA
Oil dye was how I did pin point it after replacing pan gasket...
RMS does not make me happy. The engine only has about 2800 miles on it since being rebuilt in 2004, so that being a possible cause hurts my head. My hope is that the oil from the starter area traveling down the dust shield onto that section. There is oil on the shield to support that theory, but that doesn't mean oil isn't coming from both places.
I am going to do the pan gasket, seal the crap out of it, then see if the leak remains. If there is any leaking, I'll get a dye kit and go from there. I am not eager to drop the transmission, so pray for pan gasket being the issue.
On a positive note, I do not see any leaking from the front cover!
Last edited by DrewHMS97SS; 03-24-2018 at 06:19 PM.
well either job is tedious....if it were me I would spend the minimal $ on engine oil dye first. A short drive should be enough to then show, with a black light, if it is leaking from the rear pan area or RMS
I assume you have run your hand across the back of the intake to confirm it isn't the rear (way more common) leaking. Oil migrates down and winds up looking like....your pics.
New build, clean engine, clean oil can be hard to see leak source unless it is just puking oil. That is why the dye really helps
chasing this kind of leak is frustrating. The aftermarket pan is known to be problematic to seal
The leak is getting on back of FW and also a drop from crank end. "Maybe" the pan is leaking at rear and oil migrates onto back of FW, oil gets slung inside BH and crank and now there is a drop on the crank which by itself would appear to be a RMS.
Then again a RMS leak on back of FW oil gets slung even migrating on block and starter joint
After wiping down all affected areas, for me, using dye was the only way I found the source which turned out to be neither the RMS or pan. Point is the dye showed up "just" coming out from the particular place of my leak. You need to drive for 10 min, look, repeat if necessary. These leaks weep rather quick so usually find them just after a few minutes of driving or even running the car just on jackstands for 10 min and then looking for where it is coming from
Thanks guys. I am hoping what you are about to see will be the last of it. In regard to the intake, I can't see the rear with what I had apart, but I took shop towels and rubbed as much as I could behind it and the heads and didn't find anything wet.
I am not 100% positive that this is the only problem, but guaranteed this was a source for leaking:
I had enough RTV on the rear of the old gasket, that it was really tough to get it off. After removal, I inspected the studs and noticed the metal O ring still on the stud. To my surprise, the ring from the previous gasket was also present, meaning that the new gasket was installed over another ring. Smack me now, because I swear you (Chimera) told me to look for this in another post about the pan leaking. I remember seeing it before, but thought it looked like it belonged. Pvt. Dumbass reporting as ordered...
I am also disappointed in Fel Pro a bit, as they could have saved me one iteration of swap. When I did the front cover, I ordered the full set of front, rear and oil pan seals as one unit. My box had zero instructions. I installed the gasket 100% dry the first go, because that's what the website says to do when referencing this style gasket. The new gasket I just got had instructions that said if you have a single plane, install dry, if not, RTV the 4 corners.
In any case, the new gasket is in and the 4 corners are sealed. I am going to give the RTV 24 hours to cure, then will add oil and check for any leaks. I reinstalled the oil cooler, but left the starter off until after I fill the pan. I might let it go until next weekend; it depends on how froggy I feel this week after work.
As for the water pump, I pulled the two lower (driver and passenger) bolts and had coolant behind each. I cleaned off the RTV that was snagged from the gasket, and used Permatex water pump/thermostat gasket maker over all of the threads before reinstalling.
Last edited by DrewHMS97SS; 03-25-2018 at 04:04 PM.
that definitely would cause a leak and hopefully that is the only one. it gets frustrating when you put in a lot of time and work to no avail. i applaud you for your diligence. good luck Al
I got it out yesterday and can verify that the leak on the front of the engine is addressed, but there is still some leaking in the rear. I need to pull the starter and dust cover off, but I am fairly certain at this point it is a rear main. Does anyone have a good reference for the replacement process after the transmission is removed?
Another setback is that it was running like a dog. It would idle and ran fine at low RPM, but trying to WOT yielded slow revs and a bit of bog. When I got it home there was some substantial rattling, so I am thinking there was knock retard. I want to get it back out with the scanner attached to verify that. When it was out before, if I remember correctly, the scanner was showing 20ish degrees of advance.
I am unsure about what is causing the rattle at this point as I didn't spend any time with it after I got home. Time to break the jack stands back out.
At idle you might get +/- 20° of advance. But at higher RPM, WOT it will be high 30’s. At part throttle cruise, as high as low 40’s. If you get knock retard, the number shown for advance is the programmed value minus the indicated knock retard.
03-08-2018, 11:31 PM
