Disappointing End to the Weekend

[Ole Blue 68]

After having my truck in a friend's garage for over a week doing an engine swap, I thought I was finally ready to roll. BUT...on the way home I start seeing a trail of smoke out the back end and it got so bad I had to pull over. The good news is I don't think I'm burning oil but I definitely have a major oil leak somewhere; just can't figure out where. So, I crawled home and wound up missing almost the entire first quarter of the Super Bowl.

I'm about to give up on this damn thing...

[67ChevyRedneck]

That happened to me two years ago. My harmonic balancer seal went bad and the engine was slingin oil all over the passenger side exhaust. I had a huge smoke screen behind me, needless to say, that was fixed the next day! (kind of embarassing, ya know?)

[Ole Blue 68]

Hell yeah, I had people honking their horns at me 'cause they thought I was on fire.

I'll have to get underneath it today to have a look see. It's was more on the passenger side but towards the back (at least that's where the oil was collecting). I had a ton of oil on the oil pan and that crossmember

[Dan72cst]

Make sure you have a bolt in the old 55-57 chevy motor mount holes just forward of the fuel pump. That has burned me a couple times.

[AesC10s]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

That happened to me two years ago. My harmonic balancer seal went bad and the engine was slingin oil all over the passenger side exhaust. I had a huge smoke screen behind me, needless to say, that was fixed the next day! (kind of embarassing, ya know?)

This happened to me to about 6 months ago. Yes it is very embarassing.

[Ole Blue 68]

Originally Posted by Dan72cst

Make sure you have a bolt in the old 55-57 chevy motor mount holes just forward of the fuel pump. That has burned me a couple times.

That's one I didn't think of Dan but it's an 010 block from the early 70's.

[68Stepbed]

Originally Posted by Ole Blue 68

That's one I didn't think of Dan but it's an 010 block from the early 70's.

That doesn't matter. The material at the end of the hole is paper thin and will almost always leak because it is so easy to break. I put a bolt in my brand new crate engine just to be safe. Alot of oil can seep out of that hole.

If it seems to be from the back side, the first two places I would look is the valve cover gaskets and the intake gaskets.

What kind of oil pan and gasket do you have?

[MrC1]

Originally Posted by Ole Blue 68

...and wound up missing almost the entire first quarter of the Super Bowl.

You didn't miss much!

[Ole Blue 68]

I did some checking under the truck and the internet on Tuesday and I think I got it narrowed down. We installed a Fel-Pro one piece oil pan gasket with Ultra Black. After doing some research, it turns out these things are supposed to be mounted DRY. So I'm thinking (and hoping) that's what the problem is. I guess it would help if I'd read the directions.

[Dan72cst]

Originally Posted by Ole Blue 68

That's one I didn't think of Dan but it's an 010 block from the early 70's.

My motors were from the 70's too. GM still drilled and taped those holes in case you wanted to put them in a 55-57. I was just trying to describe which holes. Mine were drilled into the fuel pump push rod and leaked pretty good. Put a bolt in there and no more leakie

[OLDCHEV4X4]

Power stearing hangs from those holes on the driver side.

[Dan72cst]

Originally Posted by OLDCHEV4X4

Power stearing hangs from those holes on the driver side.

I think the upper passenger side hole is the only one that hits any oil.

[Ole Blue 68]

Originally Posted by Dan72cst

I think the upper passenger side hole is the only one that hits any oil.

Hey thanks for the great info guys, this is one I never even thought about. The front looks pretty dry but I'm going to check these for bolts just in case.

[john]

If you put a bolt in the upper hole it has to be a short one or it will hit the fuel pump pushrod. John

[Ole Blue 68]

Originally Posted by john

If you put a bolt in the upper hole it has to be a short one or it will hit the fuel pump pushrod. John

Short it is, thanks John.

[Ole Blue 68]

If I'm going to try and remove the oil pan with the engine in, where should I jack it up at? The trans or can I jack it up from the balancer?

[OLDCHEV4X4]

i made a cradle out of wood and jacked it up on the balancer with a bottle jack.

[Ole Blue 68]

Originally Posted by OLDCHEV4X4

i made a cradle out of wood and jacked it up on the balancer with a bottle jack.

Thanks Old Chev!

[Dan72cst]

Did you ever figure out where it was leaking?

[Ole Blue 68]

Still working on this dang problem. I've gone through 3 different gaskets (one piece thick front seal, one piece thin front seal and a 4 piece kit) and the SOB still leaks at the back of the oil pan.

The oil pan is a brand new steel unit (not chrome) from Summit and it looks perfectly fine. We're gonna try another oil pan just to see but other than that, I'm at a loss for what the problem could be.

Anybody got any suggestions?

[67ChevyRedneck]

Are you SURE it's comming out of the back of the pan? Or could it be the rear main seal?

[Ole Blue 68]

Those are pretty much my two options as far as I know but it really looks like the pan. If this pan doesn't work, I'll replace out the seal as well.

[matthufham]

rear main it sounds like.

[boogie67]

Not to jack the thread but how do you fix the rear seal ?I think I have the same problem.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Take out transmission, remove clutch/torque converter, remove flywheel, replace seal. I've never done it, but I think that's how it goes. I've heard it's a PIA when the motor is in the vehicle. Can someone please verify this?