malc350
Well-known member
I've been chasing an oil leak for a couple of weeks and it's been totally driving me mad!!!
After changing the intake gaskets (hated every moment of that job!) to cure a coolant leak I presumed I made a mistake and did the job again (!!!) Didn't take so long the second time but still not a job I'd choose to do.
I thought it might be the oil filter or gasket between oil cooler housing and block but it didn't turn out to be these.
Replaced the distributor gasket because I thought it might be there and had a terrible time getting the car timed again (my distributor never goes back in exactly the same place even though I take care over TDC and marking #1 etc)
I got so fed up being enveloped in smoke (from oil dripping onto the exhaust)every time I slowed down I wanted to just leave the car at the roadside and never see it again!
Anyway after looking through the posts on this forum and getting a clue from my flickering oil pressure gauge I decided to replace the oil pressure sender because it's the only area (at the top of the engine where the leak seemed to be coming from) where there's sufficient oil pressure to lose a pint of oil in 200 miles.
A bit of a tricky job as I decided to take the distributor out again for access and to get a good opportunity to clean the area properly. I took out the metal "adaptors" that screw into the block, cleaned all the threads and used teflon tape on them before fitting the new sender and replacing the old pressure switch.
Looks like that's all it was 'cos I've just come back from a good drive with plenty of throttle duty
so I recommend checking there, anyone who has a huge oil leak from the top of the engine.
You wouldn't believe you could lose so much oil from the sender but I guess it does run at high pressure (80 psi on my engine).
A real bonus was that the replacement (made by standard, probably a cheap generic make but that's what my local dealer stocks) was quite a bit smaller than the original and used the same 27mm socket to remove as the pressure switch, as opposed to my original GM pressure sender that was huge and was a real pig to get out.
So now I have a car I can enjoy again!!!
After changing the intake gaskets (hated every moment of that job!) to cure a coolant leak I presumed I made a mistake and did the job again (!!!) Didn't take so long the second time but still not a job I'd choose to do.
I thought it might be the oil filter or gasket between oil cooler housing and block but it didn't turn out to be these.
Replaced the distributor gasket because I thought it might be there and had a terrible time getting the car timed again (my distributor never goes back in exactly the same place even though I take care over TDC and marking #1 etc)
I got so fed up being enveloped in smoke (from oil dripping onto the exhaust)every time I slowed down I wanted to just leave the car at the roadside and never see it again!
Anyway after looking through the posts on this forum and getting a clue from my flickering oil pressure gauge I decided to replace the oil pressure sender because it's the only area (at the top of the engine where the leak seemed to be coming from) where there's sufficient oil pressure to lose a pint of oil in 200 miles.
A bit of a tricky job as I decided to take the distributor out again for access and to get a good opportunity to clean the area properly. I took out the metal "adaptors" that screw into the block, cleaned all the threads and used teflon tape on them before fitting the new sender and replacing the old pressure switch.
Looks like that's all it was 'cos I've just come back from a good drive with plenty of throttle duty
so I recommend checking there, anyone who has a huge oil leak from the top of the engine. You wouldn't believe you could lose so much oil from the sender but I guess it does run at high pressure (80 psi on my engine).
A real bonus was that the replacement (made by standard, probably a cheap generic make but that's what my local dealer stocks) was quite a bit smaller than the original and used the same 27mm socket to remove as the pressure switch, as opposed to my original GM pressure sender that was huge and was a real pig to get out.
So now I have a car I can enjoy again!!!
