Help! Oil Gushing out of Engine!

[aamiggia]

Last night I heard the words from my wife that I always dreaded...

"What does it mean when the oil gauge thingy is on "L" and the oil light comes on?"

Short Story

Wife comes home and oil level is ZERO! Look under the truck and oil is splatered everywhere on underside. I fill up with old oil and watch for leaks, nothing. Start her up and get no oil pressure, and I here a very weird noise, like a screw is loose and knocking around in the engine, not good.

I look under in the hood in the area of the oil filter and see oil streaming out of the engine. It seems to be coming from the engine, between cyl. 3 and 4, near the bottom of the air intake manifold. I've got pics of the location (circled in red) and an action shot.

Long Story

3 days ago I replace the distributor, spark plug wire, PVC valve & gromet, and oil & filter. I start up the truck and I hear the same noise as above, no oil pressure, and oil streaming out. I figured it was the oil filter not seated correctly, so I took it off and reinstalled. Topped up the oil and started it up again.

This time the noise is gone, oil pressure is good and no sign of oil gushing. I went for a 5 km test drive and everything was fine. So I forgot all about it until my wife had this happen 3 days later.

As a side note, when I took off the plastic spark plug covers for the new wires, one of the long screws that hold the cover down rolled off the back of the engine. I tried to find it on the floor or where it fell behind the engine, but it was gone. Do you it could some way be sucked into the engine? or blocking and oil passage?

Could this be a defective or clogged oil filter. Tonight I'm going to replace the filter and add oil.

Any thoughts?

 

[tarbe]

Holy cow! I hope someone can help you with this...

 

[Boston Mangler]

Ok, i see a pattern here guys!!!!!

A lot of these stories that talk about massive failure start with:

"I Got A Call From My Wife Driving The Rig When................"

I think there is a section of the manual that states woman driving your rig will cause massive failure!

On a serious note, this does happen quite often!!! What gives??

Also, very sorry to hear about your situation, best of luck! Sounds like maybe the filter came loose?

 

[aamiggia]

Thanks for the encouragement, I'm hoping that the master mechanics on the board have seen this before.

The oil filter is OK and not leaking. The gushing oil is coming from above the filter, slightly to the right. This picture better illustrates the location of the filter to the leak (flow).

 

[archie]

I don't know much with the 80 series but you might want to use the search on topics pertaining to the "oil gallery plug" and see if this might be the culprit. I know this can be a problem for the older LC engines. Here's what I found using the search with the "80" also included. https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=49302&highlight=oil+gallery+plug+80

If this isn't the problem at least you can see how everybody else handled the situation with the engine oil loss.

 

[fj803fe]

I don't know much with the 80 series but you might want to use the search on topics pertaining to the "oil gallery plug"
If this isn't the problem at least you can see how everybody else handled the situation with the engine oil loss.

Yeah, not to beat it, but that is not going to help you out at all. That "galley plug" in the 3fe is no where near what animal you are dealing with.

Sorry though, I can't be of much help-no 1fz to reference
Just didn't want you spending time looking in the wrong places...do you have another 1fz engine you could look at????

Could be a plug of sorts there...

 

[concretejungle]

Oh man! You know you have a fram oil filter on there don't you? I have heard of those things messing up. I believe it was LCengineering that said they literally had a motor blow up because the Fram oil filter clogged up and the oil pressure found the easiest way out.

 

[powderpig]

First I would get rid of the Fram oil filter. There is no High pressure oil galleys where you indicate. There is a drain galley in that area for the oil to return from the head. But the oil would seep out the head gasket area(Unless there was a hole in the head). The next above is the valve cover, oil could go out if the seal is bad or cut, it would not have high pressure but could have more than flow with Crankcase pressure behind it. Your screw could be bouncing around, you will have to look under the VC. Maybe why you think it is comeing form this area is the filter is spraying the oil into this area( sligth cut on seal or some thing)Try another filter. good luck robbie

 

[Tools R Us]

Holy oil gusher man! There is no cover on that spot on my truck, so there has to be an oil galley plug or crack into an oil pressure galley in that cavity to pump that much oil? Tuff spot to see, IdahoDoug is pulling his head, maybe he can have a look? Hope you didn't hurt the motor running it with no oil pressure.

 

[Tools R Us]

Maybe the bolt got pinched between a cam lobe and the head poking a hole that is draining the cam area? That's a big gusher for a nonpressure leak.

 

[landtank]

This is just a wild shot in the dark, but try unplugging the PCV valve and starting the engine. A buddy of mine back in high school had a problem with oil gushing out of his Chevy. It was coming out of everywhere, even the dipstick tube. A clogged PCV system was allowing the engine to pressurize and blow out the oil.

Might be worth a shot.

 

[e9999]

you sure it's coming out of that rectangular hole? one photo makes it look like it's coming from higher than that I think.

 

[Beowulf]

3 days ago I replace the distributor,

Why did you need to replace the distributor? Did you mean to say the dizzy cap?

Could this be a defective or clogged oil filter.

Suspected cause #2

PVC valve & gromet

Any chance some of the grommet dropped into the valve cover?

Please clarify: Did you lose the screw inside the valve cover or not?

-B-

 

[Beowulf]

you sure it's coming out of that rectangular hole? one photo makes it look like it's coming from higher than that I think.

Agreed.

-B-

 

[RavenTai]

I just went and looked at a loose head, there is nothing under that rectangular hole in the intake, just cast aluminum of the head, no ports plugs or sensors.

If it is coming from the head you have a broken head.

Could possibly be coming from above and that is the path out it.

First thing I would do is pull the valve cover and take a look at the head in that area.

I don’t think that things happen more often wile the wife is driving it is just that they ignore the symptoms and just keep driving sometimes for days. After you find this leak there may be secondary damage to the engine from lack of oil. depending on how long she drove it with no oil pressure, you may be in store for a rebuild.

 

[cruiserman]

Did you install the PCV valve in the wrong direction?

 

[landtank]

maybe it's spirting up out of the top of that filter.

 

[Beowulf]

maybe it's spirting up out of the top of that filter.

That's my thought but I believe that would be pretty easy to spot when he was taking the picture. Also, if you look at the location of the filter, the sensor with the green connector, and the location of the leak; it would appear that sensor would be covered in oil if it was coming up from the filter, toward the rectangular indentation on the head.

-B-

 

[RavenTai]

pic

 

[Beowulf]

Starting to look like a pressurized oil system (landtank) caused by the PCV replacement (landtank & cruiserman) and a valve cover gasket failure (Robbie and Raven).

It would be extremely difficult to install an OEM PCV valve in the wrong direction. The big end wouldn't fit in the hose and the small end wouldn't fit in the grommet. Was it an aftermarket PCV?

-B-