Jump to content

Oil Leak Please help! Very concerned


imhottt1971

Recommended Posts

i have a 1995 olds cutlass supreme convertible with a 3.4 liter engine it use to leak a half a quart to a quart of oil between 3000 mile regular oil changes. i won a contest at work for 200 dollars worth of car repairs if i take it to a shop that has my software in the shop that i sell. I found a gm master tech l1 guy work for chevy for years 20 + i took my car there for diagnostics and he said i have small leaks valve cover gaskets but main leak is oil pan. So i let him replace the oil pan gasket took my car home and i started to smell oil burning and see smoke coming from under hood by wednesday after i go the car back saturday. i called him he said bring it down on saturday hell look at it friday night i was out to dinner and my low oil level ligh came on in 6 days i was down 2 quarts of oil i took it back to him saturday he said it was my oil pump drive shaft seal and i said it never had a leak like that before he said he had no idea why but oil pan is dry and it seems to him its coming from oil pump drive seal i went home as i could not afford his 1091 dollar bill because head has to come off. driving to work today it was smoking really bad from under car to my passenger window and seams of hood can there be another leak here im down a quart of oil and i cant see where its coming from and i love my car need help i just dont want to do that seal and it be something else if you guys think its the seal can someone send me a link to the easy repair some people where talking about so i dont have to reamove the head thank you and the part numbers and additional blue gasket for extrax protection thanks john

Link to comment
Share on other sites

fuck the gaskets, had to redo the job again because the paper one failed. Get some exhaust repair stuff that bonds like metal and seal that shit up permanantly and pile on rtv for over kill. The easy fix is for a 3100 not a 3.4 dohc. with your engine there is talk of grinding of part of the rear head for clearance. give it a day and a half minimum to fully cure or you will be doing it again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you look a few threads down on this page, there is a discussion about this topic.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone in some random spot of Texas.

 

having a hard time finding the threads about his

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lumina_Oil_Pump_Drive_01.JPG

That's my photo. Note the black o-ring on the pump drive. It's so rock-hard that it shattered when I removed it. The rubber cold-flows from compression in the hole (you can see that the O-ring has flat sides instead of rounded like the new O-ring), and then hardens from heat, chemical exposure, and age. Short story: It might as well not even be there; it's not sealing anything. The new brown O-ring is supposed to be made from upgraded material (Viton, I guess) and should last longer.

 

There's no point to grinding the head, you'll never take enough off to make a difference. The oil pump drive is not coming OUT without removing the rear head.

 

Fortunately, it doesn't need to come OUT. It will lift up about an eighth of an inch, maybe a little more. Remove the upper intake manifold for access. Use some aerosol carb or brake cleaner to de-grease the metal under the oil pump drive, and the drive itself. That's enough room to sneak the paper gasket under it, if the gasket is cut with a scissor or knife first. This clearly isn't the PERFECT solution, but I've done it and it can work. I cut the gasket at something of an angle (scarf-cut) instead of straight in.

 

I used Permatex #2 sealer on the paper gasket--both sides. There are probably other sealers that would work as well--CopperCoat, HighTack, Gasgacinch, Indian Head Shellac, etc. NOT RTV Silicone!!! Wrap the gasket around the oil pump drive, assure that the split in the gasket has a little extra sealer but isn't overlapped. Let the oil pump drive sink back into place, and tighten the retainer.

 

You can blort a bunch of crap over the oil pump drive, it will not do a bit of good. Makes some folks feel good, though. Any sealer (especially RTV) that isn't trapped in the joint between the engine and the oil pump drive is wasted. RTV is NOT the right product for sealing this assembly. Far as I'm concerned, RTV silicone is the most over-used product in the auto-repair industry; it's a failure waiting to happen if you try to seal gaskets with it. The stuff is so slippery, it actually promotes having the gasket slide out-of-position as the gasket is squeezed by the fasteners. RTV can sometimes be used INSTEAD of a gasket, but I quit trying to apply it to gaskets a long time ago.

 

Done right, this repair can last for years. Done wrong, it'll leak almost immediately. I did one that lasted about two months, re-did it, and it was still oil-tight two years later when I pulled the engine apart.

Edited by Schurkey
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...