billowing smoke, burning oil smell, leaking oil.... (1 Viewer)

[chuglife]

i think my rear main seal is going/gone... it's leaking in between the motor and trans, dripping off the bellhousing. it is smoking like crazy though, not through the exhaust but out from under my truck. is this a common symptom or do i have bigger problems?

i've heard it's easier to replace the rear main from the top, removing seats/console/tranny hump etc., is this true? first time rear-main-replacer here. TIA for any replies

 

[80fj40]

What are we dealing with here? Stock FJ drivetrain? V8 conversion? Do you have an exhaust pipe running across the bottom of the engine / trans bellhousing area?

 

[chuglife]

stock drivetrain, ('73 F) with a header... exits out the drivers side though, so it doesn't run under the bellhousing. i'm stumped as to what it's burning on, creating all the smoke...

 

[Pin_Head]

Where oil is dripping from is not a good indicator of where it is leaking from.

Rather than guessing, bite the bullet and clean everything off, dust the clean surfaces with corn starch or chalk, start the engine and let it idle, then shut it off and look for the oil tracks. Do it inside the bellhousing too. The rear main tends to sling oil off of the front surface of the flywheel, while a leaking cam plug will seep between the bellhousing and block and drip off of the right rear main cap bolt.

 

[ranger]

Valve cover gasket?

 

[chuglife]

ok, i've determined where all the smoke is coming from (not rear main) but i'm still yet to find out for sure whether the rear main is leaking or not. Pin_Head, i'll do what you described to find out exactly where it's coming from.

as it turns out, one of my oil lines is melted on my header... why it hasn't done this sometime in the last year of driving it i'm not sure... but i figure if i replace the line and keep it isolated from the header i should be ok (as far as smoking)

thanks everybody for the replies! keep em coming if you have any other suggestions for me

 

[chuglife]

well, it burned through... started it up to put it in the garage till i get a new line (no telling how long it'll take to find one) and it purged oil all over my street. no way am i gonna pour oil all over my aggregate driveway, so it sits out there over a big pile of kitty litter.

any chance you guys have a part number, or a general size that i'll need? how are the lines normally held away from the exhaust manifold?

 

[FLFJ40]

I have the stainless lines from $OR or maybe MAF either way they are more ridgid and keep themselves away from the header.

 

[chuglife]

i'll have to see how long shipping will take from them... toyota wants 100 bucks and 10 days to get it in.

 

[chuglife]

ok, got me the line, but ran into a frustrating problem today putting it on... can't get it in there. its starting to look like i'm gonna have to take off my header to get this in there... any advice? tried all the different angles for about 3 hours today, no dice.

 

[HawkDriver]

Do you have a digi cam?

 

[IDave]

Take your fender off for easier access.

 

[chuglife]

yes, i'll go out and take pics right now and post them up... IDave, i took it off last night after about an hour of trying unsuccessfully to get it in there. BRB with pics.

 

[IDave]

Even with a stock exhaust it is a PITA to get to those suckers. That's one more reason I've gone back to the stock exhaust for both of my rigs.

 

[chuglife]

ok, here they are... last night in the dark i took out the threaded nipple as a last ditch attempt, still no luck. pics don't do justice to the angle that i need, but they're the best i can do on lunch break (read: without getting dirty)

also, a shot of the header flanges... if i take the header off, am i gonna have to take off the intake manifold? i'll assume that i'll need a new gasket.

thanks guys

edit: i guess i'll attach the pics now :whoops: