Chasing Recurring Oil Leaks

[johnwaynejeep]

All,

I'm chasing oil leaks all over my engine and I'm trying to find the cause of the continuing leaks. Can anyone offer any suggestions?

I fix one leak and another one shows up in a new place. I've got good vacuum at my PCV valve and the valve rattles like new.

I resealed the valve covers, oil pan and timing chain cover, new water pump, starter, flexplate, radiator, oil pressure sensor, PCV valve and grommets and rebuilt the original Q-jet. I deleted the EGR and the mechanical fuel pump. There was also a oil pressure dummy light that I disconnected and left in place.

thanks all
Robert

[Dead Parrot]

If you or a PO ever over tightened the valve cover screws, it is hard to get them to seal properly. The stock covers will bend fairly easily and the thick gaskets will let them. Think inch-lbs of torque vs the normal ft-lbs. Do you have the short spreaders or the longer(~4") spreaders for the valve covers?

Are we talking a small stain on the motor or pools of oil under the motor?

[cadillac_al]

At least the engine is black so you can't see them. That's what GM learned after a while. I'm doing valve covers over again on 3 of my vehicles. I guess I still haven't mastered that skill. None of my vehicles have decent spreaders on them. That will be my next plan of attack. My engines are Chevy Orange so it is easy to see where it is leaking and easy to wipe off. I used no-name rubber gaskets last time and they turned to hard plastic and stopped sealing. I'm trying rubber Fel Pros and Mr Gasket Ultra Seals this time around. Good luck.

[SkinnyG]

*cough* FelPro.

I've found Mr. Gasket a bit of a misnomer.

[johnwaynejeep]

I never had a problem with my valve cover leaking until I fixed an oil leak in my timing chain cover. I have wide spreaders on the valve covers to prevent the metal from deforming and I torqued them to spec per the book (8ft lbs I think it was).

I think I'm generating too much pressure in the block and it's blowing out the weakest seal. My oil pressure reads 30psi at idle and it goes up to 40-45 while driving.

I know that some oil filters have a system to allow oil to leak or drain past the filter. Could it be that I'm using the wrong oil filter and I need one with some form of leak back system? Would this cause excess pressure from the oil pump to build up in the block?