stupid manuever leads to top end question (1 Viewer)

[ellington12]

i may catch a ribbing for this but here goes...

i left the oil filler cap off by accident the last time i added oil and didn't notice until the next time i checked my oil. (i generally check my oil once a week.) the thing that threw me off, aside from my absentmindedness, was that there wasn't a big mess of oil all over the front of the valve cover.

the 2F is the only pushrod engine i have ever owned so i don't really know how much oil is actually supposed to be flying around inside the valve cover. just about every other pushrod engine i've looked at has some sort of baffle in the valve cover so you can't actually see the rockers, valves, etc. from peeking through the oil fill hole.

all of my other cars have overhead cams and on those, taking the oil filler cap off with the engine running will make a mess of things. i ran my 60 with the oil filler cap off just to see that oil was flowing, and it is but i don't have a frame of reference to know how much is enough.

the engine makes no abnormal sounds. valves were adjusted about 4000 miles ago. i run 15w40 Rotella, the big daddy OE filter and even when piping hot, my oil pressure gauge never drops much more than a hair below 3/4.

i know this is a subjective thing but how much oil should be splashing around the top end? thanks in advance for any replies and sorry to all that i'm so long winded.

 

[nat]

How much oil were you down?

You are probably fine...........it must have been great crankcase ventilation

 

[zuluzeugma]

Yeah, I ran my 60 like that for about 5 days once. My cap got caught in the heater hose though. Its probably fine bro...

 

[cruiser88]

change the oil maybe...............but all else is good

 

[Mace]

you only have a light amount of oil seeping out of the rocker arms. You will not see any slinging of oil...


Have a good time

 

[KLF]

You're fine.

If that was a 3FE, you would have known immediatly, it wouldn't run at idle.

 

[Dave-T]

I have run the engine with out the valve cover on. It makes a bit of a mess but not as much as you would expect. It is not squirting out of anywhere, just basically small droplets flying around from all the moving parts. One of the rocker shaft mounts has an oil hole in it. The oil goes from there into the shaft and to each rocker, all internally.

 

[ellington12]

How much oil were you down?
You are probably fine...........it must have been great crankcase ventilation

amazingly only about 1/2 a quart.
if they knew, the folks at the california air resources board would have loved it.

Yeah, I ran my 60 like that for about 5 days once. My cap got caught in the heater hose though. Its probably fine bro...

good to hear others have made the same mistake. i don't feel so lame. my cap somehow managed to stay put right on top of the air cleaner...staring me in the face.

you only have a light amount of oil seeping out of the rocker arms. You will not see any slinging of oil...

mace, thanks for the input. being not all that pushrod engine savvy, that's exactly the answer i was hoping to hear.

thanks to all and again, this site is quite simply, invaluable.

 

[Dave-T]

Awhile back an oil change dude left the oil cap off my dad's 85 corolla and after only about 3 miles the engine was on fire!

 

[Marc311]

Considering many people adjust their valves with the engine running, it doesn't sound like any big deal.