Motor oil smells like gas

[other_shoe]

Took a look at the dipstick today, and the oil looked a bit odd, still a bit translucent but starting to take on the look of soot. It also seemed less viscous. I was worried it might be coolant leaking in, though I thought that was supposed to look white or frothy.

Surprised when I sniffed it and it smelled like gas.

Am I just running way too rich or are there other explanations I should look into first?

 

[mdjay]

This can happen if you flood it...

 

[woodsnake]

Have you done any recent carb work? It could be floats set wrong, or the fuel pump itself may have failed. Does it smell "kind of lilke gas", or it reeks of fuel!?

 

[ForceFed70]

Oil smelling a little like gas is common. Now if it reeks like gas, you may have a problem.

When the power valve in my old holley blew, the carb dumped a tonne of gas into the engine causeing the oil to fill up with gas. Course, I knew something was wrong by the smoke billowing out of the exhaust....

 

[other_shoe]

Thanks for the quick replies.

It's closer to reeks of gas.

I haven't done any carb work of late, but I can't be sure that it has ever been properly adjusted. It's entirely likely that it needs adjustment. The only thing I've adjusted was the idle and the jets.

For what it's worth, the exhaust has a lot of condensation and is moderately sooty.

I've been attributing the wet exhaust to my landlord's choice of venting the clothes dryer into the basement garage, but I thought I should mention it in case its relevant.

Also, in the past I've had some sooty, wet plugs, but I thought I'd fixed it with the idle and jets. Will check them tomorrow.

 

[109jb]

You could have a bad mechanical fuel pump too.

 

[other_shoe]

109jb and Woodsnake,

When you say bad fuel pump, do you mean that the pump may be leaking fuel into the engine or that there is somehow too much pressure?

Thanks

 

[Bosscat]

109jb and Woodsnake,

When you say bad fuel pump, do you mean that the pump may be leaking fuel into the engine or that there is somehow too much pressure?

Thanks

They mean leaking into the engine. Its not that there is too much pressure

 

[other_shoe]

A bit of a thread resurrection here, but if the fuel pump is leaking gas into the engine, shouldn't the side of the pump with the arm be somewhat wet with fuel?

 

[horse sence]

it will leak back into the crank case untill the fuel line to the carb emptys out
every time you run the motor it dumps more into the block, just recently had the same prob. the diaphram in the pump gets a hole in it

 

[bartl]

All of the above, plus report your landlord to the local authority for violating building codes by venting an appliance in a living area to a garage. Don't want to see somebody not waking up due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

 

[hungrymonkey]

fuel pump diaphram sprung a leak.
Thats been my experience at least.

 

[hungrymonkey]

A bit of a thread resurrection here, but if the fuel pump is leaking gas into the engine, shouldn't the side of the pump with the arm be somewhat wet with fuel?

small hole could squirt a little bit of gas into the crankcase every time it pumps. Its not always a massive failure.

 

[Hack]

I had this happen on my '80 Ford F-250 plow truck. Fuel pump diaphram failed and put a lot of gas into the pan. The old school fuel pumps fail a little more often with modern fuel eating the rubber parts. At least it's an easy fix. Change the oil and the pump - away you go!

 

[other_shoe]

Yep, it was the fuel pump.

Advance Auto bills its replacement pump as having "Advanced polymer pump diaphragms [to] help ensure consistent performance in multiple fuel blends." Is there any reason to believe that this might be a better choice than what's for sale at the mustang parts houses? Other than being cheaper and available at my local store, of course.

 

[horse sence]

Yep, it was the fuel pump.

Advance Auto bills its replacement pump as having "Advanced polymer pump diaphragms [to] help ensure consistent performance in multiple fuel blends." Is there any reason to believe that this might be a better choice than what's for sale at the mustang parts houses? Other than being cheaper and available at my local store, of course.

i recently had the same problem ,the new fuel is hard on rubber parts,fuel lines,fuel pumps and accelerator pumps change the holly accelerator pumps with the green alcahol pumps ,havnt tried the polymer fuel pump yet but it has to be beter than having to keep replaceing factory type pumps