Oil Leak Guessing Game

[selfish]

Hello all, I'm trying to get some more opinions before I start ripping out parts to fix a leak.

Story:

I did a full top-end rebuild about 25k miles ago and everything has been great. Timing, water pump, etc, figured while I have it opened up I might as well change everything.

I noticed a little oil seepage with one or two drops around the end of May. Since then it has turned into a big mess where I have to add oil to keep the pressure up. The front of the engine compartment is covered in oil because the fan and belts are slinging it everywhere. I did a dye kit but it too was inconclusive because of the slinging.

My best guess at this point is the crankshaft seal. There doesn't seem to be any significant amount of oil around the head gasket or the timing cover gasket, just the fine mist that is everywhere else. My next step is to remove as much from the front of the engine as possible and clean it up, then try the dye kit again.

Are there any other likely culprits for this?

Thanks

David

 

[BlackCat914]

Hello all, I'm trying to get some more opinions before I start ripping out parts to fix a leak.

Story:

I did a full top-end rebuild about 25k miles ago and everything has been great. Timing, water pump, etc, figured while I have it opened up I might as well change everything.

I noticed a little oil seepage with one or two drops around the end of May. Since then it has turned into a big mess where I have to add oil to keep the pressure up. The front of the engine compartment is covered in oil because the fan and belts are slinging it everywhere. I did a dye kit but it too was inconclusive because of the slinging.

My best guess at this point is the crankshaft seal. There doesn't seem to be any significant amount of oil around the head gasket or the timing cover gasket, just the fine mist that is everywhere else. My next step is to remove as much from the front of the engine as possible and clean it up, then try the dye kit again.

Are there any other likely culprits for this?

Thanks

David

Clean it, put more dye in it, but let it idle in the driveway for like 30 min. Should be enough to see the leak but not long enough to make a huge mess.

 

[selfish]

That's exactly what I did, but it only takes 5 minutes before I start to see yellow dots sprayed all over. The only pooling I ever see is on TOP of the water pump and frame.

 

[KidVermicious]

You need to tear down the front end, get the fan and belts and everything off the front and clean everything really really well. Start with a foaming engine cleaner and a dishscrubber brush and then hose that off, then go in with rags and Purple Power and get all the old oil off and out of your way. Then stick more dye in there, and start up the motor - don't put the fan and clutch and all that back on*. It'll be a couple minutes before your motor starts to overheat, and if your leak is that bad that should be plenty of time to spot it.

The leak I'm going to start chasing when I get home this morning is bad enough (over a quart in 20 miles) that with the fan on, I can't tell where it's coming from, and this is exactly how I'm going to find it.

* disclaimer - this works on the 22RE. I haven't ever been into the front end of my 5VZE yet, but I'm assuming you can pull off the accessory belt and still run the motor.

 

[slapdappy]

Kid's right. Remove fan blade and belts. I'd try just removing the fan first. Clean it all. You can set up a fan in front of the truck to blow air into the radiator to avoid overheating. I assume the fan blade is doing the dye flinging as opposed to the wind generated by the fan. Maybe you need to check and re tighten torque of head bolts. Is there a specific bolt tightening sequence after head gasket replacement?

 

[selfish]

Well, I got it all figured out. I pulled everything off the front of the motor and used about 4 cans of the heaviest-duty engine cleaner. Couldn't find anything.

I pulled off the crank pulley and found Pic1 which made me pull out the oil pump and find Pic2. I think those kinds of things are generally frowned upon inside of an engine. :shrug: I think the leak was actually from the old pulley with a new seal, you can see the groove worn into the pulley shaft.

So it seems what when I did my top-end rebuild I missed the slot getting my pulley back on. Everything is back together and running like a champ with no harm done except to my wallet and my driveway.

 

[KidVermicious]

That's nothing a little JBWeld won't fix.