Help With Oil Leak please.

[fasterthanu]

I have an oil leak. Both sides of my block are wet, but I can't believe what I am seeing. It looks like the oil is coming from the spark plugs which isn't possible. The top of the plugs aren't wet, below the manifold gasket isn't wet, and the head bolts aren't wet, just the half of the sparkplug facing the ground. WTF... Both sides of the block are like this, and least 4 look this very way. Please Help.

 

[wishuwerehere82]

Is it me, or is the plug on the left side of the dipstick tube different than the other one?

It certainly looks like you have some blowby on the spark plug threads. I would try changing the plugs with some champions that have an external crush ring seal on the plug shoulder to see it that is the problem.

 

[Bill75]

Are you sure it's not coming from above somewhere, I can see oil on the headbolt to the left of the plug in both pictures. I agree it's sure strange to have both sides do the same thing. Did you change to synthetic or anything?
Looks like it might be spraying from somewhere the way it's spattered on the head.

Not much help from here, hope someone has an answer, I'd be interested myself.

Good luck

 

[fasterthanu]

It definently isn't coming from above the spark plugs. I looked at the under the valve cover on the head above the headers, perfectly dry. The plugs were all brand new, and yes, they were the same plugs. The engine has 2000 miles on it. The front of the engine is dry, no timing cover leaks, no oil pan leaks. Now, my power steering fluid leaks from the, grrr, drawing a blank on it's name, the bar that goes under the car... grrr. That does leak. Both sides of the block look the same though as for around the sparkplug holes. No synthetic oil, castrol 30 weight. Those bolts that are seen in the picture are the head bolts, and it does look like it was spattered there, a few drops, nothing running down or anything like on the spark plugs. Look at the bottom of the plugs, you can see a drop there, and looks to have run down. BUT, if you think about it, you can pull a plug and put your finger in the hole and feel the compression stroke, your finger doesn't get covered in oil, it can't, I mean that is where the spark plug combusts the gas in the head, so how the hell can i have oil there?

 

[fasterthanu]

It's driving me crazy too. Dad is yelling there can't be oil from there. He would look at it, but he is 300 miles from my house. He is telling me I am crazy and seeing things, lol.

 

[wishuwerehere82]

Sherlock Holmes said:
Once you have eliminated all of the other possible explanations, that which remains, however improbable, must
therefore be the solution.

You need to start eliminating some possible explainations.

I am going to throw this one out.
Michelson proved that a strong electrostatic field will attract small particles of oil in a charged state. If the oil is on the head gasket, possibly the High voltage charge on the spark plug is attracting it to the plug tower, since the area surrounding it is covered with a high dielectric insulator called paint.
Yeah, I know, it's far fetched. But hey, you never know!

I would wipe it down and start monitoring the areas very closely to find the source of the oil. You have a very interesting and strange oil leak. I wish I could be more help.

 

[bossvette]

what kind of heads do you have? I have aftermarket heads on mine and they require a different style plug then the stock Chevy heads. If you had heads simular to mine which use a long thread and flat seat requireing a gasket and used later style plugs with a tapered seat they might leak.

 

[curtis]

Is it possible for a pan leak to have the oil blown up when going down the highway? How about oil pressure sender leak? Very weird situation.

 

[Robin7TFour]

howdy, i have a method you could try to find it. clean the engine real good. the dust the side with baby powder. it'll be messy,but if there is a leak it will show up quickly with the talc. old biker trick,form an old biker!

robin

 

[bossvette]

howdy, i have a method you could try to find it. clean the engine real good. the dust the side with baby powder. it'll be messy,but if there is a leak it will show up quickly with the talc. old biker trick,form an old biker!

robin

that even works on your house roof

 

[zackm58941]

That is kinda wierd... You could get one of those leak detection kits where you put a die into the oil, run the car and use a black light to pin point the exact point where the oil is coming from. Not sure how much they cost though. Is you PCV valve operating properly? I could see that if it was not then excessive crankcase pressures would built up (especially since you have stroked your engine) and start to push out the oil pan gasket, allowing the oil to splash all over. I'm deffinetly curious to what would cause this, keep us posted.

 

[fasterthanu]

Well, around the oil pan and gasket is dry. If it was the oil sending unit that would explain one side being like that, but not the passenger side having oil in the same spots. The pcv valve is working great. I am running a set of ProAction heads. I bought these heads and had them on my previous motor for about 2000 miles. The heads were bought, and machined at the same shop that built my engine. They have built thousands of engines, and are very reputable. I can bring it back up there for them to fix, but that is 200 miles each way for me and not to mention needing someone to drive me home and to get my car again, so if i don't have to bring it back, i would rather not. I leave for college again on sat. I might just see if he wants me to drop it off sat, and he will have a couple weeks until i am home for labor day to pick it up... am going to give them a call tomorrow morning though, although, I KNOW I am going to sound crazy when I tell him where the oil is at...

 

[tomtom72]

Hi Fasterthanu, It looks like the oil is not runing down from above the plugs. It looks like the oil is runing down from the bottom side of the plugs. If it were from the valve cover you would get smoke from the headers. I have a question: Does this in the photo appear on all the plugs or is it just #s 3 & 5 and 4 & 6? Dumb question #2: You pulled 3,5,4 & 6 and found no evidence of oil on the electrode ends? If oil there then oil control rings not functioning &/or bore problem possible or valve guides &/or valve seals. If no to #2 then oil source is external to cylinders 4,6,3 & 5. Dumb question #3: Are the head gaskets composite or metal shim type(stainless steel)? With metal head gaskets two bad things can happen: 1.) over time they fatigue and leak oil externally(like the old 198-225 slant sixes). 2.) Improper tightening down steps cause improper sealing. This can happen with composite gaskets, but unlikely. I assume motor is B/N so I doubt head gaskets for two reasons: 1.) too new and most likely not S/S and not faulty tightening, 2.) S/B chevy oil drain from heads is at back & front of head. Therefore oil would appear first on #s 1 & 7, and 2 & 8, and run down the deck from #s 1 and 2 making those plugs "wetter" than the middle two, and the back of motor would be "wet". This is all I can offer from looking at the photos, sorry it's not much, and not an answer for sure. tt72