Massive oil leak, noise, oil in coolant?

[dangerous]

Sometimes it's tricky to distinguish between the "symptoms" and the "cause" of the problems. Everyone's input is valid, but Bradical & Mikepellegrini are the ones who keyed on the true cause of the problems. Your OPRV got stuck. Oil pressure was not relieved and the oil filter is the weakest link so it popped. I've had it happen to me first hand. At this point, your oil pressure gauge is useless because your engine cannot manage oil pressure anymore. The OPRV on the '87 should be the one-piece style and is much easier to work with. This is the first thing you should address. There's a very real possibility that your sender unit is fine. The false oil pressure reading is the symptom...the OPRV is the cause.

when you have an oil pressure problem (too high) then you can damage your oil cooler seals or the oil cooler itself. It could happen independently if you're inclined to believe in coincidence, but it probably occurred as a direct result of the stuck OPRV and continued running under that condition. Oil/water mixing can occur from a head gasket, but in these cars, it's usually the oil cooler/seals. Combined with the known factor of your OPRV, and it's likely related. So once again, the oil/coolant mix is the symptom, but the cause is high oil pressure, the product of a stuck OPRV.

OPRV typically sticks if misaligned only after incorrect installation. Otherwise it likely got stuck due to sludge (dirty oil). Oil sludge is drastically reduced when running synthetic oil. You don't need to run synthetic, but oil changes are very important to prevent sludge buildup. I had some photos of inside two 944 engines, one from synth and one without. The sludge buildup was astonishing.

I wouldn't be too quick to buy a new OPRV or sender, both are probably fine. Your OPRV probably just needs a good cleaning. After you fix this, you can address the next phase of diagnosis.

[JonA]

I made a cheap oil pressure tester out of stuff I had laying around and a $3.00 oil drain plug that matches the thread of the oil pressure sender (m18-1.5). Drilled out the center of the oil drain plug and tapped to 1/8" pipe thread. Screwed in a 1/8" steel nipple and used high pres fuel line and clamps to connect a 0-100psi pressure gauge.
Removed oil pressure sender, installed this rig and was able to run engine and see oil pressure in psi. (14.5 psi=1 bar)and confirm my sender was good.
This was way cheaper than replacing the sender!!

Good luck,
Jon

[djnolan]

Originally Posted by crossrocker

Do I just chop off the wiring, crimp new wiring on, and reconnect?

I'll be ordering a new oil pressure sender as mine is screwed:

I agree, looks like it might have a broken terminal.

[crossrocker]

Originally Posted by djnolan

Judging from your picture of the coolant tank you don't have a oil cooler leak. What does the coolant cap look like underneath? White milkshake or clean?

You should repair the oil pressure gauge first. Easy fix, replace sender and go to auto parts store and buy some crimp on connectors.

You should be able to repair the OPRV without removing the oil cooler. Change the o-rings, degunk it. What else could make it stick?

If you have to remove the oil cooler, You don't have to remove the exhaust header to change the oil cooler gasket. It will slip out underneath the header. You just need to have a good set of wrenches, sockets, extensions, etc. to get to the bolts. And you need to get the gasket surfaces clean before reinstalling.

Removing the exhaust header is a *****. The flange bolts will be rusted to heck unless they have been changed to stainless. you will have to remove the studs or tilt the engine to get it to clear the frame to remove it. In this case this can all be avoided.

Just work on one thing at a time. Do easy things first. Don't panic...

Yea so I already got the header nuts off, it wasn't that bad after a bunch of pb. I'm having a really hard time with the oil pressure switch though. I don't have enough leverage to break the nut cause I had to cut the wrench in half to fit.

Now I got the power steering pump hanging so that I can access the pressure sender better but it still just won't budge. Not sure what I'm gonna do now to be honest. I'm considering taking the oil cooler off just so I can access the pressure sender and basically might as well do the oil cooler seals.

As far as the oprv goes, do I really need the expensive alignment tool to put it back in? That's what I'm worried about. I already ordered the O ring for it.

If I don't need it then all I need to figure out is how to break the oil pressure switch nut and I can get the rest done quick.

[djnolan]

Originally Posted by crossrocker

I'm having a really hard time with the oil pressure switch though. I don't have enough leverage to break the nut cause I had to cut the wrench in half to fit.

As far as the oprv goes, do I really need the expensive alignment tool to put it back in? That's what I'm worried about. I already ordered the O ring for it.

If I don't need it then all I need to figure out is how to break the oil pressure
switch nut and I can get the rest done quick.

You should be able to loosen it with a medium sized adjustable wrench. I have done this on several cars and never had to remove anything other than maybe the belly pan. Try a 8" adjustable wrench. Or better yet try this tool from craftsman... http://www.sears.com/craftsman-6-in-beak-jaw-trade-adjustable-wrench/p-00944713000P

You won't need the alignment tool unless you remove the oil cooler housing.

[crossrocker]

Originally Posted by djnolan

You should be able to loosen it with a medium sized adjustable wrench. I have done this on several cars and never had to remove anything other than maybe the belly pan. Try a 8" adjustable wrench.

You won't need the alignment tool unless you remove the oil cooler housing.

So I can remove the oprv and clean it up and stuff without needing the alignment tool? Sweet.
I'll try the adjustable wrench tonight

Thanks buddy I appreciate your help so far. I'm hoping it'll be done by tomorrow

[crossrocker]

Originally Posted by djnolan

You should be able to loosen it with a medium sized adjustable wrench. I have done this on several cars and never had to remove anything other than maybe the belly pan. Try a 8" adjustable wrench. Or better yet try this tool from craftsman... http://www.sears.com/craftsman-6-in-beak-jaw-trade-adjustable-wrench/p-00944713000P

You won't need the alignment tool unless you remove the oil cooler housing.

Got it! I got the pressure sender off with your advice. 8 inch adjustable wrench worked perfectly.

I'm gonna put everything back together, new coolant, oil and filter. Fix the wiring and I'll let you know how it goes after.

Btw for the connection to the pressure sender, the wiring is a little different. Right now one of the wires has a spade on it and both holes are the same diameter. On the new unit, there's spades for both connectors and one of the holes is bigger.

[djnolan]

Originally Posted by crossrocker

Btw for the connection to the pressure sender, the wiring is a little different. Right now one of the wires has a spade on it and both holes are the same diameter. On the new unit, there's spades for both connectors and one of the holes is bigger.

Polarity of the electrical connections matters, if the wires are reversed the gauge won't read.

[crossrocker]

Update:
Oil pressure is pegged at 5, I'm assuming the wires need to be switched. Will do that soon.

For the mean time, I have smoke coming out of basically the entire engine bay. Kind of from under and around the engine. I'm hoping that's from all the oil, coolant and liquid wrench that's been spilled on and around the exhaust/headers. It could also be the engine over heating because I wasn't able to properly bleed the coolant, but the temp gauge looks fine.

There's also quite a bit of smoke sputtering out of the exhaust even after warm up, not sure what that is.

The engine is also making a sputtering noise around the cylinders: https://youtu.be/edgtw73pU5U

No idea on what to do at this point. I guess I'm gonna start with a compression test and bleeding the coolant.

EDIT: I had put too much oil in I guess. I thought all the oil came out when this oil filter popped. I got some oil out and I don't think it's smoking anymore. It is night time and the smoke has been sort of difficult to see so I'll check again tomorrow.

There also seems to be water droplets coming down from the exhaust, not sure what the source is.

The sputtering sound is still there.

Coolant needs to be bled, I'm having a bit of a hard time with this.

Pressure sender wires need to fixed.