Oil coming up through dipstick tube???

[Rapid]

I am working on an annoying oil leak at the front of the engine. After a 200 mile trip at highway speed, 2800-300 rpm, I find oil on the front of the engine, under the hood and"blown" back along the inner fender. I also find the dipstick just above being seated in the tube and oil there also. I have a breather and a PCV valve on a 65 289 with minor mods.

 

[bnickel]

well you can try a stronger PCV valve or you can ditch the breather and go with a closed crankcase type breather with a hose to the air cleaner, actually i would do both personally. if that doesn't fix it you'll most likely need a rebuild on the 289, because of too much blow-by past the rings

 

[HistoricMustang]

I am working on an annoying oil leak at the front of the engine. After a 200 mile trip at highway speed, 2800-300 rpm, I find oil on the front of the engine, under the hood and"blown" back along the inner fender. I also find the dipstick just above being seated in the tube and oil there also. I have a breather and a PCV valve on a 65 289 with minor mods.

If it is blowing out the dipstick tube, put a spring on it. This is what I did.

HistoricMustang
www.historicmustang.com

 

[ashford]

If it is blowing out the dipstick tube, put a spring on it. This is what I did.

HistoricMustang
www.historicmustang.com

or weight it down

 

[HistoricMustang]

One guy at the track was having so much trouble he put a "Kotex" around the top of the tube and used wire ties.

Solved the problem.

HistoricMustang
www.historicmustang.com

 

[Edbert]

Is the oil clean or frothy and colored like capuchino?

Maybe I have not been around long enough to see it but to me enough crankcase pressure to blow out the dipstick indicates much larger problems. The breather should be able to release any overpressure, and if you have THAT much blowby from the rings then she should be leaving a trail of smoke down the road as you drive.

Is the dipstick loose in the tube or is the rubber peice missing? Is the dipstick tube seated fully in the timing chain cover?

 

[mustangprodude]

I thought my dipstick was leaking on my '83 vert. Turned out to be the valve cover gaskets. I replaced them with the metal reusable ones and switched to a cast aluminum valve cover.... problem solved!

 

[Rapid]

Thanks for all the info guys. The oil is clean and not like the great coffee! I did put a little bend in the dipstick and that helped some and convienced me that it is coming up the tube. I do have a closed breather with a tube coming off and a new PCV. I don't know if it matters but I put the PCV on the drivers side valve cover and the breather on the passenger side. As for rings, I am getting about 135 lbs per cyl on a compression check. Would the lack of an oil slinger make any difference?

 

[bnickel]

Thanks for all the info guys. The oil is clean and not like the great coffee! I did put a little bend in the dipstick and that helped some and convienced me that it is coming up the tube. I do have a closed breather with a tube coming off and a new PCV. I don't know if it matters but I put the PCV on the drivers side valve cover and the breather on the passenger side. As for rings, I am getting about 135 lbs per cyl on a compression check. Would the lack of an oil slinger make any difference?

try switching the pcv valve to the other side and get one that opens at a higher amount of vacuum. you can actually tune your idle to some degree with different pcv valves. i would buy several different pcv valves and use the one that gives you the smoothest idle and see if that doesn't fix your blow by through the dipstick, actually it's probably not blow by from the rings but the actual crankcase pressure that is popping it out. a windage tray would help with this also. you really need to be pulling as much vacuum through the crankcase as possible, this also helps the rings seal better too.

anyway start out with different pcv valves and make sure your breather hose is connected to the air cleaner in a way that it is actually pulling air from the breather through to the carb, this will also help your problem. as the engine accelerates it will pull more air out of the crankcase through the breather tube. i have also seen people use 2 pcv valves as well as a closed crankcase breather.

 

[Rapid]

try switching the pcv valve to the other side and get one that opens at a higher amount of vacuum. you can actually tune your idle to some degree with different pcv valves. i would buy several different pcv valves and use the one that gives you the smoothest idle and see if that doesn't fix your blow by through the dipstick, actually it's probably not blow by from the rings but the actual crankcase pressure that is popping it out. a windage tray would help with this also. you really need to be pulling as much vacuum through the crankcase as possible, this also helps the rings seal better too.

anyway start out with different pcv valves and make sure your breather hose is connected to the air cleaner in a way that it is actually pulling air from the breather through to the carb, this will also help your problem. as the engine accelerates it will pull more air out of the crankcase through the breather tube. i have also seen people use 2 pcv valves as well as a closed crankcase breather.

Sounds like a plan. The holidays will give me some time to experiment.

 

[Edbert]

Don't mean to sound insulting but often problems come from silly/simple errors and I figured you might double check. Your oil level isn't too high is it?

 

[Rapid]

Don't mean to sound insulting but often problems come from silly/simple errors and I figured you might double check. Your oil level isn't too high is it?

Not according to the dipstick. It is a new one. I did check the marking against the original and they match. Also, I put in 5 quarts w/ filter. Never assume that the simple has been over looked! Thanks.