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Hard to say, I always put the rtv on the stationary item (in this case the engine/block). And the rtv in my opinion likely doesn't do much of the sealing. If your covers meet flat across the block surface and the seal ends don't stick out/in then the gasket will seal pretty well even if the rtv isn't perfect. I prefer it to be perfect but **** happens. So man I just don't know.
Did you do anything with the front or rear covers or just the oil pan gasket
Oh and earlier you said something about unbolting the steering box, I was talking about unbolting the idler arm bracket off the frame, I wouldn't unbolt the steering box, that's a pain in the *** to mess with, just pop the pitman arm off the steering box and leave it in the drag link, then unbolt the idler from the frame and the drag link will drop.
Thanks, I got the steering linkage back on, I just had to jack up on the steering bar/linkage to put enough pressure on it so there was enough friction on the idler and pitman arm stud so that the nuts would tighten up.
The only gasket I changed was the oil pan gasket and aluminum oil cooler gasket.
From the pictures it sure looks like oil is coming from the front main/balancer seal, but that means good excuse to do a cam haha
The timing cover gakset is a common leaker too. It usually starts on the passenger side a few inches up from the oil pan gasket, over by the a/c compressor area.
So over a week now I've been running it and honestly I think the leak is worse now with more drops on the driveway. In addition to that, I have been trying to vaccum bleed the power steering system and either I split to much or either I created a new power steering leak since its all over the place now.
However I am still determined. I think I should try to get a better more quality dye and UV light kit? I guess I should start replacing hoses now? Oil cooler hose? It just dosen't make sense how there is drips on the bottom of the hoses if the hoses aren't leaking?
Tomorrow, I am going to give it another cleaning with a pressure washer and engine degreaser so I can start new again and try to pinpoint any leaks.
My oil cooler looks about like every oil
change, I've given up trying to stop that drip. Never seems to get worse, but it is pretty persistent
when you look thru the trans inspection hole, is it clean in there or is oil flung everywhere? You can pull the starter and close out panel or the close out panel on the driver side behind the filter to get a peak in there too
Have you checked the crank sensor? It sits behind the starter.
For the oil cooler block, I had to follow a very specific fix over on ls1tech that involved trashing the gasket, using RTV, putting it back together, letting it sit overnight and then snugging it up the next morning.
If it got worse then logic would say something you worked on is leaking worse now. It would be unlikely that something started leaking more oil in that area at the exact same time you were working on it, but weirder **** has happened so who knows. I would be inclined to pull the stuff back off I just worked on, but I know how much that would suck to do at this point.
So things might be looking better maybe. I cleaned every off again with degreaser. My transmission looked like it was also leaking, but then I realized the pan bolts were kind of loose from when I changed the fluid, so I tightened them up but I am not sure if it stopped it, it kind of looks like red trans fluid near the smaller bellhousing cover.
So looking at the last picture of the steering box, it looks like it might be leaking now, or maybe its always leaked I could just never tell? Also it still baffles me that all the trans, oil cooler lines, and hoses all get drips of oil on them that collect at the lowest point, but then if you try to run your finger up to see if there is oil higher on the line it is always dry?
Anyway it may look like my steering box is leaking, I was thinking it was my power steering pump leaking, I've also been trying to vaccum bleed the power steering system to gid rid of the wine, it kind of seems to work and then comes back in a few minuets. The wine isn't too bad but its a lot worse than it was with my last pump, which was a reman pump, and this one is also a reman pump. I should probably just break down and buy a brand new ac delco pump, or at least try to find a original factory one at a junkyard to pull off i'm sure a original factory one on a wrecked car is still better than a cheap aftermarket.
I think the steering boxes are known to leak at the tops?
Have you checked the crank sensor? It sits behind the starter.
For the oil cooler block, I had to follow a very specific fix over on ls1tech that involved trashing the gasket, using RTV, putting it back together, letting it sit overnight and then snugging it up the next morning.
Only way I stopped mine from leaking.
Yes, I checked the crank sensor before I started any of this and everything looked dry up in there. I took the fender liner out and removed the starter shield and it looked fine from there and there was no trace of any wet oil around that area.
My oil cooler looks about like every oil
change, I've given up trying to stop that drip. Never seems to get worse, but it is pretty persistent
when you look thru the trans inspection hole, is it clean in there or is oil flung everywhere? You can pull the starter and close out panel or the close out panel on the driver side behind the filter to get a peak in there too
When you pull the plastic covers at the bellhousing, the flexplate is dry as well both sides.
Jan 11, 2021 | 08:18 PM
