Oil leak - Valley Pan?

[79jasper]

I retract my previous statement. I forget oil will pool in the intake from the cdr system.

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[renjaminfrankln]

I took it for a drive just now. Maybe 5 minutes, but I blasted through the gears a few times and got it up to temperature. There is now a bit of oil in the valley pan by the grommet where I cleaned everything up. And a few drops on the driveway off the starter after I parked it.

Question, does the oil have to rise to a high level in the valley pan to overflow it and run down the back of the engine? I am not seeing that much oil.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

No. It just runs out of the odd bolt that holds down the back of the valley pan. That square hole in it goes all the way through just for drainage.

 

[renjaminfrankln]

No. It just runs out of the odd bolt that holds down the back of the valley pan. That square hole in it goes all the way through just for drainage.

So the bolt that is just behind the turbo drain grommet? There is a passage through there that dumps out the back of the engine above the starter?

Sorry I haven't seen one of these valley pans off the engine. If that is the case, this is probably the source of my leak.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

So the bolt that is just behind the turbo drain grommet? There is a passage through there that dumps out the back of the engine above the starter?

Sorry I haven't seen one of these valley pans off the engine. If that is the case, this is probably the source of my leak.

Sort of. The hole through the bolt goes into a passage that comes out on the top of the back of the block close to the factory oil pressure sender. Then it runs off the top of the block, down the side, and drops off next to (or on top of) the starter. This is not the source of the oil leak. The oil or fuel that runs through this bolt comes from the valley pan which means that something on top of the engine is leaking into the valley pan. I'd be looking closely at the oil drain/grommet area. You already know that there is an oil leak there. If there's no oil in the valley pan in front of the intake manifold, then your leak is at the grommet area.

 

[renjaminfrankln]

I think I have my problem then. Thanks for the help guys!

I’m going to pull the drain hose again, inspect for cracks and reinstall it with sealant. Will check the CDR block off plate as well.

Also going to try and back those intake manifold bolts out and put some washers on them.

 

[renjaminfrankln]

After 2 evenings of oily swan dives the RTV is drying on my drain tube and my intake manifold bolts have washers on them and are now snugged down.

Knock on wood.. if the leak is fixed that means I get to work on air conditioning Wednesday! I have all the parts just need to get the oil leak fixed first

 

[IDIBRONCO]

FYI if the RTV on the grommet fixes the leak, Banks still sells new grommets. I recently bought a new one for my first gen Banks. That's just in case you want to replace it in the future.

 

[renjaminfrankln]

Crap, still leaking. Its not terrible but really no change from how it was before. I havent had a chance to check out the grommet area but i'd guess its not leaking from there.

Possible having two intake manifold bolts loose for so long caused the seal to go bad? Oil is mostly coming off the starter area so its definitely leaking from the upper rear part of the engine.

I'm going to keep driving it and think about valley pan replacement here soon. Other than pulling the IP again it does not seem too bad of a job.

 

[renjaminfrankln]

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Pic of oil

 

[Chris Helton]

Looks like my truck. I just finished installing an ATS turbo in my 6.9. All went well until I started driving on the highway for prolonged periods, at higher revs, as I still have a T19. Very annoying, as the motor is spotless, except under the starter. I'm starting to think I'll call her the Exon Valdez...I installed a new valley, (Fel-Pro) and their grommet that came in the kit. Backed it up with a thin coat of RTV, and made sure to punch a bunch of holes under the drain. It does't seem like there is a whole lot of pressure on the return to make it leak like this, so I'm kinda confused. I'll tear it back down and see what I can see. Has anyone ever thought of fabbing a pedestal up and running a return line into the valve cover?

 

[renjaminfrankln]

Believe i've seen a hose barb welded to the valley pan.. then just run a flexible hose up to the turbo

 

[Thewespaul]

I don’t think the valley pan is the cause, I’d say for every time I’ve seen the valley pan cause a leak I’ve seen fifty oil drain leaks. The turbo oil drain is the most common leak on the idis with turbo kits, the engine wasn’t really designed well for use with a turbo and consequently the oil drains kinda suck. What you can do, is convert over to a Cummins oil drain, or install a bulkhead into the valley pan and convert the oil drain to -12 an line.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

It does't seem like there is a whole lot of pressure on the return to make it leak like this, so I'm kinda confused.

I think it's more the volume of oil instead of the pressure. I believe that there should be almost no pressure on the returning oil. I think that it basically falls back down into the valley pan.

 

[Chris Helton]

Moot point. Damn thing died. Think my lift pump croaked. Address that and then the oil leak. Doesn't drip on the driveway if she doesn't run! Agreed, probably just the volume of oil and the flange going through the grommet isn't very deep. I'll glue her in good and hope that fixes it. I do like the idea of a dedicated return line.