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Broken dip stick part II....un-cut!

Avery4jc

Avery4jc

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Ok you all know the story of the broken dip stick and how it caused me a ton of grief with my truck. I took care of business and dove into a project that was a touch bigger than I thought it would ever be. Now that I did it I'm glad that I did and was proud of myself....

So then I took it out for a spin as we all remember and when I got home I found that I was puking oil everywhere and smoking a ton from it getting all over my exhaust (which took forever to clean up and burn off).

I came on here and asked for some suggestions as to what I should do and before I tried them I decided to try and tighten up the bolts to see if that was all that my problem was. To my surprise it stopped the gushing and I was set to go again.

My dad and I have put some miles on the truck since then (most of them in a single day when we had a ton of errands to run on Wednesday) and every time we stopped I noticed that there was a few drips under my truck. I didn't think anything of it because I figured that it was only some oil that was dripping off of everything when I gushed it all over the underside of the truck, I was wrong.

So today I couldn't take it anymore, I got on some old clothes and pulled the truck up into the grass and went to town cleaning the underside of it so that I could start it up, move it and then wait to see where the leak was coming from. To my surprise it wasn't from the pan/gasket area that I just replaced, it was from this.....(see pics)

What should I do?

-Avery

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keep searching... the leak isnt coming from there. starters dont have oil in them.

i'd almost bet on a leaky intake, or possibly a rear main seal.
 
I'd like to know where your leak is coming from as well. I have the same drip off of my starter. I know I have other leaks too, but I've been trying to pinpoint them all.
 
My guess is that you have oil inside the flywheel cover, and the flywheel is slinging it all over the inside of your flywheel cover. You should remove the flywheel cover and clean it. Then, before you reinstall the flywheel cover, drive it around for a little while without the cover OFF to see if you have any further leaks in that area.
 
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1-ton said:
My guess is that you have oil inside the flywheel cover, and the flywheel is slinging it all over the inside of your flywheel cover. You should remove the flywheel cover and clean it. Then, before you reinstall the flywheel cover, drive it around for a little while without the cover on to see if you have any further leaks in that area.
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exactly my thoughts.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1-ton
My guess is that you have oil inside the flywheel cover, and the flywheel is slinging it all over the inside of your flywheel cover. You should remove the flywheel cover and clean it. Then, before you reinstall the flywheel cover, drive it around for a little while without the cover on to see if you have any further leaks in that area.
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exactly my thoughts
Click to expand...

I messed up and used the word "on", when it should have been "off". I edited the post to read correctly.
 
1-ton said:
My guess is that you have oil inside the flywheel cover, and the flywheel is slinging it all over the inside of your flywheel cover. You should remove the flywheel cover and clean it. Then, before you reinstall the flywheel cover, drive it around for a little while without the cover off to see if you have any further leaks in that area.
Click to expand...

I saw your edit and it makes much more sense. So I should remove the cover, clean it out and then replace the cover before I drive around. Then when I get back see if I still have that leak?

If I do have a leak won't it just come right back when I bolt everything back on and run it around? Or do you think I had some oil in there and I just need to clean it out?

-Avery
 
dude, it made more sense when you said "on", as you used the word "without". kinda wierd to say "without it off" particularly in light of what you're actually trying to say. need a beer? :D :wink1: j/k.
 
Avery4jc said:
I had to remove that cover when I was working on dropping the pan. If I do remove it it's ok to run it like that, wide out in the open around the block or do I need to drive it farther than that?

Ok so say I remove the cover and I run it, clean the cover and reinstall it. If there is a leak won't it just come right back in and start all over? Or are you thinking that I had some in there and I just need to clean it out?

-Avery
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the point is that if you take it off, clean everything up and run it for a while, you'll have a better idea where the leak is actually coming from when you go to look at it again. you'll be fine running w/ out your cover. alot of covers are plastic, so they aren't durable anyway. i might be slightly concerned if i were going to be driving thru really high grass or doing any sort of wheeling where i might get a rock up in there, but driving around on the streets for a while is fine. some guys on here don't even have a cover at all!
 
yep, yours is metal. if you take it off, you'll see your torque converter (often orange or blue) attatched to your flexplate (flywheels are for manuals, flexplates are for autos). we're on the same page. i'm just saying that its not rare to see those covers made of plastic, which is much less durable than your metal one.
 
really? that seems like a terrible place to put plastic. I'm only used to working on my truck in depth like this so I had assumed that they were all metal.

The oil pan has two drops in it, one in the front for the *fill in the blank* and one in the back towards the tranny for the *again, fill it it*.

If there is a leak in the one going towards the tranny it would probably drip down between the back of the oil pan and the front of the tranny (on that torque converter cover) until gravity stopped it at the lowest point, my starter....what do ya' think?

Here's a second question, should I even care? Are a few drops here and there really going to hurt me? If I keep an eye on my fluids and top off/replace when they get low I think that I might be wasting my time finding a leak this small.

-Avery
 
need a beer?
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I have some cold ones chillin in the fridge right now. Soon as I finish dinner, I am going out to wash my truck in the driveway. I will have the hose in one hand, and a cold one in the other. :D

Any hoo, I think most of you have decipherd what it was I was trying to say. Oh yeah! To be technically correct, I should have said "flexplate"...instead of "flywheel".
 
3 on the tree said:
Probably the rear main seal leaking. Mine leaks too, no biggie-just check the oil level more often.:D
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That's what I wanted to hear! Screw the oil leak, lets grab a...well beer for all ya'll and soda for me and kick back. I'm tired of crawling under there for now and I really don't care anymore. I'll just keep a close eye on it.

-Avery
 
Avery4jc said:
The oil pan has two drops in it, one in the front for the *fill in the blank* and one in the back towards the tranny for the *again, fill it it*.
Click to expand...

i don't really understand what you're saying/asking.
If there is a leak in the one going towards the tranny it would probably drip down between the back of the oil pan and the front of the tranny (on that torque converter cover) until gravity stopped it at the lowest point, my starter....what do ya' think?
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if i understand you correctly, i believe you are correct. the oil could easily get inside your flexplate cover as this butts up to where your crank comes out of the block, so if your rear main seal (the one that seals around or under the crank - depends on your engine) is leaking, then this leak could easily get inside that cover, where it would run down and onto the starter.

Here's a second question, should I even care? Are a few drops here and there really going to hurt me? If I keep an eye on my fluids and top off/replace when they get low I think that I might be wasting my time finding a leak this small.
Click to expand...

it's not going to hurt you as long as you watch it. it might ding your pocket book a bit, but probably not that much. it would drive me freaking crazy tho. however, to fix something like a rear main seal, and to do it properly (as opposed to the hillbilly way) you have to pull then engine. you could potentially drop the oil pan and crank and all the crap involved with that while the engine is in the truck, but it's not proper and, IMO, not nearly clean enough.
 
crap, forgot to add this....what should my pressure guage be at? Mine is anywhere from 30-45 depending on my rpm. Is that ok?

-Avery
 
pressure guages are notoriously wrong, as with all of the guages in our trucks. that pressure sounds kind of low to me, but you're probably fine. i think 60 psi is average - can someone verify that for me?
 
Both of my trucks (1991 V3500 Crew Cab) and (1985 K30 Dually), run at 50 PSI when warn and idling, but climb to 60 during cold starts, or when driving down the road. 30 to 45 PSI is OK for a Chevy V8. They can live on that.
 
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