A story- I hate chasing oil leaks or An excersize in Frustration

Bushbasher · 17-09-2011, 08:22 PM

I've just spent over 4 hours this afternoon chasing an oil leak in the Fairlane that, it turned out, should have been fixed 2 months ago by the mechanic at the last gas service. I did an oil change last week and noticed a bit of oil on the front of the engine so today decided to do something about it. When I opened the bonnet I had oil spraying all over the thermo fans and basically all over the front of the engine, oooh errrrr. So I pulled the fans and serpentine belt cover, then degreased everything so I could see where the oil was coming from. After running the engine for a few minutes a trickle of oil started running down from under the bottom and left hand bolts of the VCT cover at the front of the head that the oil line runs intro. No worries says I, I'll pull the bolts and re-seal them, job's right. Did that, wipe down, start up and wait..... trickle returns; hmmmmm, ok, time to get serious. Pull the belt off, wash everything down again and pull off the cover and check the rubber seal. It looked ok but just to be sure, I put a smear of Loctite gasket maker around the outer edge and put it all back together. start 'er up and........... still leaking, damn! Pull it apart again and this time remove the rubber seal and put a couple of layers of thread tape in the seat then put the seal back in. that should do it. Clean everything off again, a smear of grease to help the rubber seal back in now that it sits a bit higher and reassemble making sure to add a little sealant where the cover and rocker cover meet just in case it's coming from there too. Fight with the serpentine belt to get it back on then start 'er up again and...... still leaking, BULL$HIT!! Right, I've had enough of this; pull the belt off, get a new can of degreaser, clean everything down again and dismantle. This time go for the doctor and reseal the whole lot with Form-a-Gasket #4 and fight the belt back into place again then go sit down for 10 minutes to simmer down and let the gasket goo set a bit. Come back and start 'er up gain and wait; sure enough, the little trickle of oil starts again, FFFFFFFFF$#%*^#@&*(!!!!!!!. There's no friggin' way oil is leaking out of that front cover or the rocker cover so where the bloody hell is it coming from. I then checked all the idler bolts as that is what the mechanic said was the problem last time. They were all tight and none (that I could see) showed evidence of leaking. So I ended up sitting in front of the engine and letting it run while I tried to figure out where the bloody hell the oil was coming from. After a few minutes watching the trickle of oil coming off the VCT cover and knowing there was no way oil was coming out of it the penny finally dropped. I had assumed the oil was leaking out of the VCT cover or bolts and onto the casting ridge at the bottom of the head then making it's way over to the fixed idler next to the PS pump then dropping onto the belt where it was then carried around and flung all over the place. What was actually happening was that the oil was coming from the idler bolt itself, running down onto the inside of the idler and the bulk of the oil was then being flung straight up onto the underside of the VCT cover where, of coarse, it then trickled back down following the track described above thus feeding itself, looking for all the world like it was coming from the cover and making it look allot worse than it actually was,

. So I pulled the belt off, degreased and cleaned everything AGAIN then removed and resealed the idler bolt before fighting the belt back on AGAIN for the third time this afternoon. Start 'er up and wait....and wait...no leak YAY!! Put 'er back together and go for a drive to the bottle-o to get something to help forget todays aggravation and frustration and upon my return still no leak YAY! and YAY again!, finally, jobs' right! So that's the story of my afternoon, I hope yours was better.

Here endeth the story

Cheers
Bushbasher

XRGhia · 17-09-2011, 08:26 PM

Can I ask for a favor Bushy?

Make it into paragraph's :P

and also cheers for the write up.... At least if I have a leak come from the EF Wagon (AU VCT engine), i'll know where to look...

**Uncle_Ken** · 17-09-2011, 08:31 PM

I hope your Sunday is better. Well done getting to the bottom of it.
UK

Day-mow · 18-09-2011, 01:01 AM

which bolt? can you take pics? or something. i have a leak on the front of my VCT and i'd like to know if maybe its the same thing.

GK · 18-09-2011, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xrghiawagon

Can I ask for a favor Bushy?

I thought you were going to ask him to fix your oil leak! LOL!

GK

Bushbasher · 18-09-2011, 10:45 AM

Day-mow, there's 3 idlers or tensioner pulleys on the VCT engine, the 2 on the spring loaded unit down and to the right as you look at the motor and one fixed one right at the top next to the power steering pump pulley. The one at the top was my problem but it could be any one of the bolts on the front of the motor that's leaking as most of them go right through into the oil galleries.
My suggestion is to remove the idler pulleys then just start at the top and pull all the bolts one at a time and reseal them all and be done with it or you might end up doing what I did yesterday and pull the bloody thing apart multiple times till you find the right one. It may take you an extra 1/2 hour to do the job but better that than having to go back time and again to gchase the leak. Good luck with it mate.

Cheers
Bushbasher

Day-mow · 18-09-2011, 11:27 AM

cheers. so you took the belt off. then took one bolt out. and smeared some sealant of sorts on the underside of the head of the bolt?

falconhell74 · 18-09-2011, 11:54 AM

There is a 3/8 square insert in idler pulley tensioner were you put a 3/8 knickle bar or ratchet (with pipe over for more leverage),to lever tensioner over to get belt on & off ,makes life easier

Bushbasher · 18-09-2011, 04:14 PM

Day-mow, I used #4 Form-a-Gasket which is a hardening gasket cement because it's sticky as and will displace and oil residue in the thread. I spread it on the bolt threads with the applicator brush in the bottle because you really don't want to touch the stuff but I guess a silicone sealant would do if you're happy to let it cure before you go starting the car. Just make sure everything is degrease d and clean and dry before you start.

Cheers
Bushbasher

Beer Baron · 18-09-2011, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bushbasher

So that's the story of my afternoon, I hope yours was better.

Here endeth the story

Cheers
Bushbasher

I lost my temper at the brush cutter that was a bastard to start then leaked fuel all over my legs. It is now in 30 odd bits all over the yard with a piston hanging out of the crank case.

Day-mow · 18-09-2011, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bushbasher

Day-mow, I used #4 Form-a-Gasket which is a hardening gasket cement because it's sticky as and will displace and oil residue in the thread. I spread it on the bolt threads with the applicator brush in the bottle because you really don't want to touch the stuff but I guess a silicone sealant would do if you're happy to let it cure before you go starting the car. Just make sure everything is degrease d and clean and dry before you start.

Cheers
Bushbasher

sweet. i'll make sure i do that. thanks a lot

rowan194 · 26-09-2011, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by falconhell74

There is a 3/8 square insert in idler pulley tensioner were you put a 3/8 knickle bar or ratchet (with pipe over for more leverage),to lever tensioner over to get belt on & off ,makes life easier

+1. Just insert it and "turn" it, the pulley magically moves away!

There's also a hole which you can put a 5mm drill bit into to lock the tensioner into the loose position. See pic.

Day-mow · 29-09-2011, 11:20 PM

my supertool ratchet didn't appreciate doing this. it died :\

T3man · 30-09-2011, 02:05 AM

A good quality ratchet will do the job - but your best option is a solid bar.

falconhell74 · 30-09-2011, 06:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rowan194

+1. Just insert it and "turn" it, the pulley magically moves away!

There's also a hole which you can put a 5mm drill bit into to lock the tensioner into the loose position. See pic.

image

Im surprised your sidchrome bar still has the crusty plastic handle mine came with erginomic factory crack!

LOL

Day-mow · 28-10-2012, 07:53 AM

thread digging but #YOLO

so you put form-a-gasket on the thread. and it goes hard? does that mean you'll have a gay time taking them out if you need to?

my cars pi55ing out oil and this is the easiest quickest way i can think of trying to slow the leak. it looks like it is coming from tensioner bolts a bit.

Bushbasher · 28-10-2012, 08:33 PM

You shouldn't have any problems with removing the bolt later. Because it goes hard it will just crack and let go as it isn't an adhesive.

Cheers
Bushbasher

Day-mow · 28-10-2012, 09:35 PM

cheers. i ended up useing loctite 567 thread sealer. and took out a whole heap of bolts and re did em. i did find a bolt that goes into the head that holds the p.s bracket on that was a bit lose and possibly oily so hoping all goes well.