Nasty oil leak...valley pan or IP gear tower

[tbrumm]

Caution: The following idea has not been tested, but in my best estimate SHOULD work ok....

If you have to remove your IP gear housing, do this... Bar the engine over until you can insert the allen wrench in the fuel screw adjustment hole. Loosen all the lines, and then you should be able to unbolt the gear cover housing, using the allen wrench as a sort of retaining mechanism to lock the IP shaft/gear in place. Additionally, longer than correct lenght bolts could be threaded into the IP gear access cover/oil fill and snugged enough to hold the gear tight against the IP shaft. DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN. I'm talking a very small amount of tension here.... Assuming that the rest of the gear train doesn't move while you have the pump off... when you drop it back on, timing should be perfectly preserved.

Thanks for posting that, Mel. My timing gear cover has had a small leak forever, but it is the only leak on the motor and drives me crazy. I was hoping to live with it until I buy my baby moose, but that will be a while yet as the truck hasn't turned 70,000 yet. If I understand correctly, you are talking about the two bolts that hold the front access cover on the gear cover and those need to be longer to press lightly on the gear itself. So these longer bolts are just to keep the gear cover itself postioned properly so it will "move" along with the IP and gear when lifted up enough to reseal under the gear cover?? Thanks again for posting this procedure to help deal with a simple oil leak that is not so simple. Todd

 

[icanfixall]

Yes is the short answer to what Mel posted. Actually what you are doing is placing a lock bolt in against the injection pump gear so its help in place so as not allowing it to turn. The amount of force needed on the bolts is maybe a little more than hand tight. The pressure pushing on the gear will be taken by the injection pump shaft in the end. So don't crank down on those two bolts. The length needed will probably be about 1 to 1 1/2 inch bolts. But remember any bolt will have a specific length of threads on it no matter the length overall. A 2 inch bolt will have the same amount of threada as a 3 inch bolt. Only all thread has an unlimited amount of threads.

 

[turbo elk]

My cover has a leak also. Can the head gasket leak oil and if so were is the leak common?

 

[riotwarrior]

Caution: The following idea has not been tested, but in my best estimate SHOULD work ok....

If you have to remove your IP gear housing, do this... Bar the engine over until you can insert the allen wrench in the fuel screw adjustment hole. Loosen all the lines, and then you should be able to unbolt the gear cover housing, using the allen wrench as a sort of retaining mechanism to lock the IP shaft/gear in place. Additionally, longer than correct lenght bolts could be threaded into the IP gear access cover/oil fill and snugged enough to hold the gear tight against the IP shaft. DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN. I'm talking a very small amount of tension here.... Assuming that the rest of the gear train doesn't move while you have the pump off... when you drop it back on, timing should be perfectly preserved.

Mel has been thinking again...

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Could this be from all the fresh cali air he was breathing while on vacation last week.... These are the kinds of ideas that make this forum better than the rest... Thanks Mel for showing another way of fixing these engines.... Your a +++ to the forum....

I think I'll take my gear cover with IP on it and look into this in next few days....great idea...

 

[ldeikis]

So if I'm reading this correctly.. you pulled a single head to get a broken glow plug tip out... But did not replace the intake valley pan gasket.... Thats where you made the mistake and now you have an oil leak.

Sorry, maybe I was unclear. I pulled a single head to get a broken plug tip out, and replaced both the head gasket and valley pan gasket. Seeing as how I already had the injection pump and lines out of the way, I removed the IP tower, cleaned it up sparkling nice, sealed it with ultra black, and reassembled everything. The valley pan isn't leaking at all that I can see, but oil is leaking from the FRONT of the IP tower. I can clean it up enough to see it weep out, and when I put it back together everything was tidy, so it's really obvious where it's coming from. I had filled all the nooks and crannies in the IP tower with ultra black and followed the instructions to a T in reinstalling.

FWIW, it's an early 6.9 n/a, no turbo. I found that by removing the oil filler spout (which is removable on the early trucks) I could make a mark on the IP gear and housing with a paint pen and then just replace the gear correctly when I reassembled it. Worked fine for me, obviously impossible with a later truck.

Sounds like the implied fix is to take it back off, clean it up, and do it again. I'm not too likely to do that, I guess, at least not until I have reason to have the pump and lines off again.

Luke

 

[icanfixall]

Your front cover leak might be the injection pump o ring seal. Its very hard to see down under the pump if thats the leak. Might try to look closer at it...

 

[riotwarrior]

Sorry, maybe I was unclear. I pulled a single head to get a broken plug tip out, and replaced both the head gasket and valley pan gasket. Seeing as how I already had the injection pump and lines out of the way, I removed the IP tower, cleaned it up sparkling nice, sealed it with ultra black, and reassembled everything. The valley pan isn't leaking at all that I can see, but oil is leaking from the FRONT of the IP tower. I can clean it up enough to see it weep out, and when I put it back together everything was tidy, so it's really obvious where it's coming from. I had filled all the nooks and crannies in the IP tower with ultra black and followed the instructions to a T in reinstalling.

FWIW, it's an early 6.9 n/a, no turbo. I found that by removing the oil filler spout (which is removable on the early trucks) I could make a mark on the IP gear and housing with a paint pen and then just replace the gear correctly when I reassembled it. Worked fine for me, obviously impossible with a later truck.

Sounds like the implied fix is to take it back off, clean it up, and do it again. I'm not too likely to do that, I guess, at least not until I have reason to have the pump and lines off again.

Luke

Luke,

In my limited knowledge of gasket surfaces and such there is only ONE reason a leak such as you describe will occur really.

If you used RTV according to instructions all should be good, however, one single drop of oil or such on either of the two surfaces prevents the RTV from sealing and subsequently will LEAK continuously.

This is the # 1 reason that RTV sucks on two metal surfaces IMHO. This is why guys who change diff fluid and replace the cover and do RTV have leaks...really it's quite simple

Every single part MUST BE SURGICALLY CLEAN...or even CLEANER!

Seeing as RTV fills small voids etc even a nick should in theory be ok and seal...this just happens when a contaminant remains on the surface preventing the RTV from adhering to the surfaces correctly....

JM2CW

Al