Pesky oil leak

[Jim S.]

Hello it's damn near 4 o'clock and I can' sleep bcuz of my back. I have replaced the rear main seal with a Vitron one from 440 source.com. Orange noodles on the sides of the retainer which I am sure have contacted the block. I used Hondabond up there where the retainer contacts the block. I have read the Roadcuda post back in May but, I needed to pull and paint the oil pan anyway. After that the leak was better, only about 5-7 drops after a drive. Now I noticed a trickle from the intake manifold. So, new valley pan, Hylmor HPF around the ports and Hondabond on the front and back and in the corners. Car on jack stands, up to temp, inspection cover off, and I see no leak anywhere. Only when I drive it for about 20 mi, and park it, it drops a little from the inspection cover area. Also the starter has some oil on in it. Where do I look next? Idiot light sensor, or maybe the breather. The oil filler cap/breather has some filter material in it. Does this need to be changed from time to time? Could this be a crankcase ventilation problem? I don't know, I'm old, but still a rookie.........Thanks, Jim

 

[Big John]

Oil pressure sensor. They sometimes leak intermittently and are often hard to diagnose.

 

[moparstuart]

Oil pressure sensor. They sometimes leak intermittently and are often hard to diagnose.

i agree my oil sender on the 440 was squirting it out on the firewall and leaking allover the back of the motor and trans :yesnod: :yesnod: check that next

 

[mcmopar]

Mine was a pesky little leak at the rear main seal saddle. It wasn't the seal itself but was in between the saddle and the block. As you know there is a void area between the rear main seal saddle and the block. This needs to be sealed with Ultra RTV when the pan goes on. I thought I had it all sealed up when I put my pan on during the initial rebuild but there was a tiny hole up there allowing for a small, pesky leak. I put up with it for awhile but when I damaged the driveline I decided to drop the pan and when I did I was able to locate the leaking spot. I sprayed carb cleaner up in it to clean it up and then squirted some Ultra Gray RTV up in the area and reinstalled the pan. It took care of the leak. This area is known for leaks and probably a lot of rear main seals have been replaced because of it. If everything else checks out (sending unit, valve covers, etc.) this may be your culprit - even though you just sealed it all up. All it takes in one little air bubble in the sealer up in that saddle/block/pan area and you can develop a leak.

 

[Jim S.]

O.K. thanks, I'll get back at it this evening. Sure hope it's the sensor...Jim

 

[Basketcase]

that's something I need to take care of. after we had mine apart checking the chain and changing the lifters, mine developed a leak in the fron. I cleaned the front of the engine, and I can see a trikle coming from behind the balancer.Musta boogered the front seal when I installed it. It's leaked enough to get oil on the right backing plate, so when you apply the brakes the car wants to make a hard 90. Been too busy, and now we've been having some of Sponge Bob's heat.

 

[mac]

i have a pesky leak up front. ever since i degreed my cam, i can't stop the leak coming from the timing chain cover on the pass side. it is a new gasket and the pan was removed before the cover was taken off. but it will only leak when i get on it. the timing chain throws it right against the seam and it oozes out.

 

[Hoosier Bird]

You guys are starting to get me worried about oil leaks on mine..............

 

[Roadcuda]

I just got my car back from having a bunch of leaks fixed. One was the rear main seal. It still has a drip but is very small especially compared to what it was. I joked that I could have put a quart bottle under the car and it would fill up after each run. He said that he had to wipe down the whole underside of the car from all the leaks I had. The guy who worked on it is a mopar guy and owns a '69 Hemi GTX, and has built two AFX cars, and races the one pictured here, and also owns his own repair garage. He said while you can change that seal with the engine in the car, it makes it more difficult to get the side seals to work right. It's harder to get them to seal where the cap meets the block. Another problem was that the 2 gaskets on the oil pan were rock hard so they weren't sealing very well. Also we found that my valve covers are starting to leak some. For now though I solved that problem by tightening all the valve cover nuts by at least 1 1/2 turns each. I know that worked because it was a 30 mile drive to the show Sunday, and no valve cover leaks. I'm not sure if that helps you any but I thought I'd throw it out there.

 

[Jim S.]

Everything else seems to be fine so, I think I'm going to have to pull the rear main retainer again. Yes it is hard to get the side (noodles) to stay in place when you are pushing the retainer back in place with the engine in the car. This time I think I'm going to make a simple tool that insures that the side noodles contact the block first before the retainer is all the way flush. I haven't ripped anything apart yet, still forming a plan of attack........Jim

(maybe a conference with the Colonel is in order!)

 

[Hoosier Bird]

Everything else seems to be fine so, I think I'm going to have to pull the rear main retainer again. Yes it is hard to get the side (noodles) to stay in place when you are pushing the retainer back in place with the engine in the car. This time I think I'm going to make a simple tool that insures that the side noodles contact the block first before the retainer is all the way flush. I haven't ripped anything apart yet, still forming a plan of attack........Jim

(maybe a conference with the Colonel is in order!)

My new seal had 2 pcs of pipe cleaner that came instead of the side noodles. The instructions were to pack rtv in the holes with the pipe cleaner.........so I just filled it full and then packed the back where the chamfer is on the flywheel side as well. I may be pulling it out to fix a big leak, but we shall see..........

 

[ACME A12]

[quote="Jim S.":29mr70l3]Everything else seems to be fine so, I think I'm going to have to pull the rear main retainer again. Yes it is hard to get the side (noodles) to stay in place when you are pushing the retainer back in place with the engine in the car. This time I think I'm going to make a simple tool that insures that the side noodles contact the block first before the retainer is all the way flush. I haven't ripped anything apart yet, still forming a plan of attack........Jim

(maybe a conference with the Colonel is in order!)

My new seal had 2 pcs of pipe cleaner that came instead of the side noodles. The instructions were to pack rtv in the holes with the pipe cleaner.........so I just filled it full and then packed the back where the chamfer is on the flywheel side as well. I may be pulling it out to fix a big leak, but we shall see..........[/quote:29mr70l3]

Now you've got me wondering which set-up came with my overhaul gasket set for Bambi's new engine...I'll have to open it up when I get back from L.A... :huh:

:jester:

 

[Jim S.]

[quote="Jim S.":36hhnt3t]Everything else seems to be fine so, I think I'm going to have to pull the rear main retainer again. Yes it is hard to get the side (noodles) to stay in place when you are pushing the retainer back in place with the engine in the car. This time I think I'm going to make a simple tool that insures that the side noodles contact the block first before the retainer is all the way flush. I haven't ripped anything apart yet, still forming a plan of attack........Jim

(maybe a conference with the Colonel is in order!)

My new seal had 2 pcs of pipe cleaner that came instead of the side noodles. The instructions were to pack rtv in the holes with the pipe cleaner.........so I just filled it full and then packed the back where the chamfer is on the flywheel side as well. I may be pulling it out to fix a big leak, but we shall see..........[/quote:36hhnt3t]

Yes that is the way most guys do it. Maybe I should too. In theory, the "Vitron" side strips should work fine as long as they contact the top of the block because they are compressed quite a bit when you work the retainer in. High temp rtv on the top of the retainer and even a small dap on the ends of the two split halves and the top of the side strips. I found it too hard to offset the two halves with the engine in the car because you can't see what you are doing. I really don't want to do this again and down the road, find I have a oil galley plug leaking behind the flexplate. I'm not complaining, I like working on the RR but, a guy feels stupid doing the same job over again..............

 

[Jim S.]

BTW there are two types of seal kits sold. The kind Gary has that just uses RTV and the orange side noodle strips which you can get from 440source or Dvorakmachine. Don't think you can find the old fiber side strips anymore that were soaked in mineral spirits and installed quickly before they swelled.............Jim