6.2 diesel oozing oil from rear of head?

[diesel4me]

I noticed my 6.2 has always been oily on the drivers side ,iol collects on the underside of the exhaust manifold and eventually covers the back of the cylinder head area there,and the oil filter always has a drop hanging off it--but it never seems to leak enough there to drip on the ground..

Today I had it running while lying under it,and I see oil bubbling from under the exhause manifold,it might just be boiling it off,but to me it looks like it might be coming from the head itself,and its above the area where the head meets the block,so I dont think its the head gasket..doesn't appear to be the valve cover either,or sending unit,but it is hard to see up there.especially with my crappy sight..

Every time I look under this diesel,I wish more and more it had a gas engine in it instead....especially with gas being 60 cents less a gallon..there is so many things that leak on this motor pulling it out would be the easiest way to fix it..and if I did,I think I wouldn't put it back..

 

[kennyw]

Valve cover gaskets would be cheap to start with (RTV even cheaper). Otherwise, just keep topping it off. As long as your not using more than a couple quarts between changes you should be fine.

 

[herkdriver007]

Any chance it's leaking from the oil cooler lines?

 

[diesel4me]

Nope! definately not the oil cooler lines..
...they have been "deleted"....there's just a loop of 3/8" copper tubing joining the ports where they used to be..
--and I blew air thru the old hoses,and no oil came out of them..I have better oil pressure now than before too..maybe the ports were plugged up or something..anyway,I doubt it'll miss the oil cooler ,I never tow anything or use it in summer much anyway..I know of several fleet trucks that had them removed and they still haul tons of cranberries ,none have shown any ill effects from not having one..

If it is the valve cover gaskets,I'm not about to change them,knowing what it involves--it could well be they rusted thru a pinhole in the back where I cant see..the oil pan is definately leaking,but only about a quart a week or two,and if I leave it a quart low it doesn't leak much ,from the add to full line disspears in a few days though if I fill it up full..

I read somewhere in a Motors manual a friend has about a GM part being available thats a weird shaped brass plug,thats similar to an expansion plug only a weird shape,that gets installed into a casting in the head ,but I think thats for a coolant leak problem "fix"..far as I can tell there is no oil passages in the heads?..

At any rate I'm not pulling the head(s) off,if anything the engine will get pulled out,and left out,if any more problems come along..!..

The laundry list of woes on the engine is getting a bit long,(oil pan,exhaust manifolds are rotted to death,injector lines are crispy,a glow plug broke off and crunched up in one cylinder long ago and its had a noisy lifter when its cold ever since)--and it'd be easier to swap a gasser back in it instead of fixing all that,then having it toss a rod with my luck,and gas is a lot less than diesel fuel now..
If I had a straight six available cheap;I think I'd have it in there already..

 

[tRustyK5]

I'd guess VC gasket too...but knowing how rusty your injector lines are I'd say leave well enough alone. Everything oily won't rust, so look on the bright side and keep er topped up.

 

[diesel4me]

I got some nice spare injector lines from Icemann here awhile ago,but have held off using them until I had too..got another rusty set on a blown up 6.2 I got given to me for parts that broke the crank too..

I've found a nice thick coating of Permatex Indian Head Gasket Shellac on the injector lines and brake lines wards off rust and makes a good protective coating on things you dont want rusting and leaking..

The truck needs so many other things fixed now,that I am tempted to just limp along as it is and only fix whats absolutely nessasary..its hardly worth swapping an engine into it now,though I dont see any trucks on Craigslist like it in worse condition selling for much under 1500+ bucks either..

I have been buying 15W-40 on sale locally for 12.99 a gallon,but I've been adding it so often its getting to cost more for oil (and brake fluid to top my leaky master cylinder off!) than I spend on fuel lately!..and my driveway looks like the La Brea tar pits where I park it too,despite putting some waferboard under the engine to help catch the drippage..

We can put men on the moon,but have yet to invent a substance you can apply to leaky oil pans or gas tanks and have it stick,and seal the leak at least temporarily--without a thorough cleaning (which is dam near impossible!)..why is that??.....I wish it were as simple as spraying "Flexi-Seal" on it and be done with the mess and expense..

I'd try applying more J-B putty to the leaky pan,but if I try loosening the drain plug I'm likely to rip the pan apart before it comes loose its so punky in that area..and its a waste of time trying to apply any with it leaking..

I have not even changed the oil in it in years,I figure I add so much fresh stuff weekly it has no time to get dirty..I should spin a new filter on it at least though..

Yesterday I barely made it home from a trip to the grocery store,it started surging like it was going to run dry on fuel...still had over 1/8 showing on the gauge,and I ran this thing below "E" often without a problem in previous years,now its done this twice,so either the gauge is not accurate or maybe there just aint enough fuel to keep the sock filter submerged on inclines when it gets that low?....maybe the fuel filter is plugging up,it is old,but it ran fine once I added 20 bucks more fuel to it..

Maybe the tank has a lot of crud in it now,or water,I'm going to try draining it thru the factory siphon hose thing today and see what comes out of it..my "water in fuel" lamp has come on a few times recently,but when I wiggled the plug on the sending unit it went right out,so I doubt it has any water in the tank,it runs fine as long as its over 1/4 full..
I think I'll buy a new fuel filter for it too,the Wix one on it has been there since I bought it in 2003....