okay, i'm kinda lost on this one...
this weekend, i towed my Corvette from Pensacola to Atlanta & back, and now i've got a serious problem!

my truck: 99 Sierra 1500 4x4 (just hit 170k mi) with a 5.3 from an 01 Tahoe (just hit 125k mi on the engine) and a 5 speed transmission. basic bolt-ons (CAI, LT headers, 93 BB tune) 3.73 rear with 31" tires

my load: 00 Corvette FRC (just over 3200lb) on a Top Hat 20' 12k lb equipment trailer (i know, it was a bit much, but it's what i had to work with). i'm guessing the trailer is about 3000lb

yesterday after we'd got to the track, i kinda thought the rear bumper looked like it had little oil spots but thought i was crazy & dismissed it. then this morning when we were starting to leave, i got a low oil level warning. i checked it & it wasn't even on the stick. i drove carefully to the next auto parts store (still had good pressure) & bought a quart. still nothing. i then bought a 5qt jug (it was on special) & it took about another quart or so of that to get full. on the way home, my friend was following me & said he'd noticed when i would start uphill, it'd start blowing light blue smoke. i never could see it until he brought it to my conscious attention. about 2/3 of the way back, we stopped to check it again & it was another 2qt low. then we looked under the truck & HOLY CRAP!!! no joke... it looks like somebody just sprayed the whole underside of the truck from the oil pan back with motor oil!! the filer ain't leaking & neither is the drain plug, and everything in front of the drain plug is dry. it's all burned onto my y-pipe, all over the x-members, even the diff/axle/shocks, and the exhaust tips... pretty much everything.

the funny thing is that i never got a level warning while driving & the pressure was always 40-60psi unless idling (about 35), but from here to ATL & back to my driveway, i've added 6qts total.

the clutch still grabs like usual & the engine even seemed to run like normal with the exception of smoking & spraying oil everywhere. does anybody have any ideas on what this mess could be? with my car being busted right now (that's a whole nother story), i can't afford to have my truck dead, too

 

What's the top side of the engine look like? If it's not the PCV blown off, then most likely your oil filter is loose or you have a bad front or rear crank seal. Put your hand down between the intake manifold and firewall if you can, see if it comes back oily.

You really need to go under there with a flashlight and find the source, we can guess at possibilities all day.

 

If it's leaking that much, that fast, take a look at the oil pressure sending unit. Also look to see if your engine oil cooler lines have rubbed thru on anything.

 

Did you get your oil changed before the trip? If so, did they leave the old gasket on by accident?

 

He won't have an oil cooler unless it's aftermarket.

I'm leaning toward broken sender or bad rear main seal.

 

top side looks clean... ok, well normal. clean's an overstatement
PCV was good & firewall was dry

i'll have to look up what those look like, if i even have them, & their status

i can't even remember the last time i paid anybody to do a simple oil change.
but no, i make sure to clean any traces of gasket off & get stuff tight. it was due for a change after this trip anyway.

 

so after trying a new approach (crawling under there with the engine running after wiping everything off first) i think i found the culprit. apparently my filter's sprung a leak. with the system pressurized - just at idle, it was steadily dripping every few seconds. i'll put a new filter on tomorrow after work & see if that fixes my problem

i sure pray to God that's all it is!! a filter, i can handle. a rear main or something in-depth like that is gonna be a real problem right now.

 

Make sure the 10mm bolts for the line tap on the filter housing are tight (84 in/lbs) as well.

 

will do!

 

wait... how does a leaky filter explain having larger clouds of oil smoke when i get on the gas?
would it be that the system's under more pressure (spraying more oil out onto my oil-caked header y-pipe) & causing a larger amount of oil to get burned on a hotter (higher revs = more hot gas = hotter pipes) exhaust?