Quote:
Originally Posted by frank
Dave,
IF I spilled any oil... and I maybe I did, it wasn't a quart of oil. I will investigate that possibility further though. My motor is so clean and dry right now (aside from the current leak) that I can see everything.
When I removed the valve cover, it was full up to the top of the pushrod tubes with oil.
I let the motor drain overnight before I refilled it and I don't think 4.5 quarts of oil would have caused such an overflow. I even tilted and lowered the car in every direction to get the most oil possible out of it. I am baffled.
The motor has not been turned on since I first pulled it out 3 weeks ago, so I know this isn't a pressure leak. This is a gravity leak that I don't have a clue as to how it has happened. I should have gone with my original plan of using cheaper oil to flush it out but I guess I can now brag that I flushed my motor with 20w-50. Ugh!
Could it be that a pushrod did not seat properly? Based on the videos I took, they all seem to go straigh back.
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I didn't see it indicated, but is only one valve cover filled with oil to the level of the pushrod tubes, or are both valve covers filled this high with oil? it wouldbe very strange for a car sitting level to only have one side's valve cover fill with oil.
If a pushrod was not seated correctly, that would cause valve operation problems, not cause an oil leak, unless you ran the motor with a bent pushrod, and that bent rod wore thru the pushrod tube.
if both valve covers are filled with oil to the level of the top of the pushrod tubes, then I'd say th engine was over filled, the oil level (with a level car) should not be that high.
even with an overfill, the valve cover gaskets should not leak on a static motor (ie non running)
I always use new gaskets after a valve adjustment, and i glue the gasket to the valvecover (but no glue to the gasket / head surface). if you dont glue the gasket to the cover, the gasket can wiggle out and cause a leak, but that leak would only be apparent when the engine has been ran, as the oil level should not be high enough to leak out of a faulty valve cover gasket.
if the leak is from the pushrod tube seal, again that would only leak if the oil level was too high if the motor is not ran. it is very easy to have one of the o-rings that seal the pushrod tube to get pinched during assembly.
so maybe the oil was over filled, and you have a failed valve cover gasket or failed pushrod tube o-ring failure.
normally you should not need to tilt the car to assure full oil drain, all the oil will drain with the car level, assuming your draining it from the drain plug.
if you drained the oil with the car tilted, then not all the oil would be removed, then if you went ahead and filled up with 4.5 quarts of oil, you'd have more oil in th motor than the 4.5 quarts, since not all the old oil was removed. could this be how the motor got over filled?
did you check the dip stick marks with the car level?
Could it be that if you have an external oil filter and/ or cooler, that when you tilted the car, oil from the cooler or filter drained out into the case after you correctly filled the case with oil, thus you have too high a level becuase there is now air in the cooler/filter, and associated hoses?