Stumped

[gibson89LX]

I have a phantom front-side oil leak. the whole front just seems to be wet, which leads me to believe it's being slung from a gear or something. I have replaced the valve cover gasket, the cam seal, crank seal, aux seal, and the front plate gasket and it's still leaking. I'm going through rougly 1 qt every 3 weeks and it's driving me batty. I'm running outta ideas. You guys have any?

 

[kiddiccarus]

Powerwash and carb cleaner, wash that engine off really good (if you have tried this ignore me). Daily go out and with a flashlight go over eavry inch of the engine to see a pattern forming, this is how I had to find my valve cover leak.

 

[Touring23]

Gibson, I'm getting ~75 psi oil pressure when I rev my engine before it's warmed up. I've found that I go through much less oil by limiting revs until it's fully warmed up. Does your oil pressure read fairly high at startup?

 

[gibson89LX]

Not at idle, no. I read about 60 when I'm goosing it for the first few times. Then it settles down to 30

 

[Touring23]

Yeah, that's not bad at all.

 

[youknowit62300]

have u tried the oil pan gasket??? it might be leakin from the front and slinging oil up with the belt or fan? just an idea

 

[gibson89LX]

have u tried the oil pan gasket??? it might be leakin from the front and slinging oil up with the belt or fan? just an idea

the front crank seal comes as a kit with a pan gasket, dust guards, and seal

I am finishing replacing ALL the front seals AGAIN today to see it that corks it up finally.

 

[Dan P.]

My friend had a similar problem with his 5.0; it turned out to be oil was getting around the front crank bolt and being slung by the pulley and belts. He just took out the bolt and put some sealer on it and put it back in and no more leak.

 

[My80Cobra]

My friend had a similar problem with his 5.0; it turned out to be oil was getting around the front crank bolt and being slung by the pulley and belts. He just took out the bolt and put some sealer on it and put it back in and no more leak.

It can't get around the bolt it is solid behind them.

 

[gibson89LX]

Ah great, replaced ALL the seals and gaskets on the front end AGAIN and I'm STILL leaking oil!!!

 

[140cilx]

The cam is hollow, it's part of the head lubrication, oil flow's through it. The cam gear retaining bolt threads should have rtv sealant or silicone around them to prevent a leak you describe. Have you checked this source?

 

[gibson89LX]

I added teflon tape...

 

[techdbw]

Do you have a steel valve cover or aluminum.

The steel ones will sometimes distort if overtorqued. after that a new gasket will not seal.

Are you using the blue rubber VC gasket with the AL VC?, did you pull the old gasket spacers off the VC before installing the new gasket?

 

[gibson89LX]

It's aluminum.
I'm using the blue rubber one yes. and all the old spacers came out with the old gasket.