Dodged a bulllet, I think...

mhackney · mhackney's Garage

So, I was driving home on a 2 lane highway in my 70 S. I had just installed the RPM Transducer that Otto rebuilt and I received ths morning. Lif was good. The engine felt and sounded great. All that popping and backfiring gone! Anyway, I neeed to pull ahead of a truck to get to an exit. I pushed the accelerator and easily sped up - RPMs appraching 5500. Just at the exit ramp I looked in the rear view mirror and saw billowing grey smoke. Holy crap, thought I, and I looked at my oil gauges - 25 on the pressure and "0" on the volume! I slowed to the stop sign thinking the worse but the engine sounded and felt good. I limped ahead having a few miles to go to get home. I kept the RPMs at 3000 and the smoke continued to billow - but it did not look like burning smoke. Oil pressure read 20 with "0" on the volume. I managed to get home, no overheating (it was a nice 80 with low umidity today in Boston). Pulled in the garage and carefully lifted the hood - extinguisher at the ready. Oil was puddled on the garage floor and the entire inside f the engine compartment was oily - the right side was obviously where whatever happened, happened. The left side electroncs were dry. I looked around with a flashlight but nothing jumped out at me. I now have 17 people in my house for a cookout (of course it is pouring rain now) and I am taking a 2 minute break between checking the grill. Any ideas/thoughts on what I should check? I will of course search like crazy here and go through the oil system. At least it does not seem to have been an engine problem.

cheers,
Michael

Gogar · 07-13-2007, 03:01 PM

Did you change the oil and overfill?

The oil level guage reading "0" at high RPMs is nothing to worry about. With the engine warm it should probably read 0 at high rpms and almost peg up high after a few seconds at idle. It only reflects the amount of oil that's in the TANK.

ianc · 07-13-2007, 03:03 PM

Right side? Blown up or loose oil filter?

ianc

Nostril Cheese · 07-13-2007, 03:06 PM

Check the oil lines to the oil tank. SOunds like what happened when I blew the S hose on my car.

Zeke · 07-13-2007, 03:07 PM

Oil line. Check the ones to and from the tank, then start checking the smaller ones, like the ones to the MFI pump. Overfill is a possibility, but if you haven't done any adding of oil, eliminate that.

Most likely the oil got on your heat exchangers and created the mosquito screen.

Early_S_Man · 07-13-2007, 03:13 PM

If he lost S-hose, oil pressure would have been lost instantly! And, any cars behind would have been dodging the massive oil spill from the tank ...

Loose 1" vent hose at center, top breather plate or tank???

Check your oil level with dipstick while idling at 900 - 1000 rpm on level ground.

mhackney · mhackney's Garage

I did an oil change probably 700 miles ago and have not needed to add any oil - so it wasn't an overfill. The right side of the engine and oil filter/tank is covered with oil. The level drop was instantaneous - or as close as I could tell. There is no oil in the tank - or at least very little.

I hope I can get out to the garage later and start poking around. I suspect the oil lines or filter based on the spray pattern - seems like it originated on the right side area abd blew towards the engine to the left. I need to locate an oil system plumbing diagram so I can follow it. The vent hose under the air box was disconnected (not sure if I accidently pulled it off in looking around) but the end and inside was dry.

mhackney · mhackney's Garage

Milt, I agree that the smoke was oil birning off the heat exchangers. I really feel sorry for the guy following me in the Mercedes as I went up the ramp!

Michael

mhackney · mhackney's Garage

So I had a few minutes to snoop around. It really looks like the oil came from the oil filter area. All of the rubber hoses above and below the haet shields look good. They are covered with oil but the lower ones look like they were sprayed (sporadic splattering). The left side throttle bodies had a few small droplets whereas the right side throttle body and stack is covered with oil. The MFI pump looks basically dry - just a bit of spattering. I am going to pull out my manuals and trace the oil lines.

Michael

BeauBlues · BeauBlues's Garage

Did your oil filter come loose or blow its gasket? Because on the right side of the engine there really is only the filter and the tank. Id say clean up the mess, refill the oil tank and drive around a bit and check for leaks. IMHO that's the only way to solve this kind of mystery. It's worked for me.

mhackney · mhackney's Garage

The filter is still tight enough that I could not lossen it by hand. I'll pull it off in the morning when it is light. If it is the gasket, I suppose the filter could still be difficult to remove by hand.

BeuBlues, The oil left very quickly! So I am a bit concerned about adding oil and starting the car.

Any tips on cleaning? I have a gob of paper towels but are there any oil cutting cleaners I should use?

Cheers,
Michael

mhackney · mhackney's Garage

I've been tryingto find a description on how the oil circulating system works. I have the drawing from the parts catalog tat helps somewhat. The basic question is, what parts of the system re under pressure?
Also, I am trying to find the S hose that folks have mentioned here and in other threads.

thanks,
Michael

mhackney · mhackney's Garage

Well, I got to start cleaning up and looking around this morning. Looks like it was the result of "dual oil filter gasketitis" as shown in this photo. Some bozo wrench (me) replaced the old filter without checking the flange on the car. The old filter had its gasket intact so this gasket was left from a previous change. I've only done 2 changes on the car so it might have been from my first.

Could have been an expensive mistake, so take head all fellow noobies.

Thanks for the help guys.

Michael

RWebb · RWebb's Garage

Are you saying the old rubber gasket from the old filter was left on the tank flange and you then put the new one on, so that there were then 2 rubber gaskets under the filter?

BeauBlues · BeauBlues's Garage

So I guess to answer your thread's title, yes, you dodged a bullet. Oh and to clean that mess, use engine degreaser found at any auto parts store. The stuff I use is called "Gunk". Don't use any type of brake cleaners, I have found that they are harsh on paint, kind of like a thinner of sorts.

gtihop · gtihop's Garage

I've seen engines at work be lost due to this. Will not leak at idle under low pressure but leaks at higher pressure while driving.

mhackney · mhackney's Garage

Rweb, yes that is exactly what happened. The old gasket was stuck to the filter flange so I ended up with e gaskets.

Michael

mhackney · mhackney's Garage

Rweb, yes that is exactly what happened. The old gasket was stuck to the filter flange so I ended up with e gaskets.

Michael

jkarolyi · 07-15-2007, 08:30 AM

Wow...scary stuff! Good advice...will double check the flange whenever I change my oil to make sure no gaskets were left behind. This should be added to the oil change instructions in the 101 books if it isn't there already...

mhackney · mhackney's Garage

It was scary Jay! Especially looking up and seeng that billowing smoke in the rear view mirror. Didn't know if my engine just blew or what. Cleaning up a bit of oil is no sweat compared to the alternative.

Michael