Now that I sealed the rear China wall leak, I see oil at the front of the engine. 360 magnum, '67 dart 2dr hardtop, slant six K frame with Schumacher conversion motor mounts.
After some testing, checking, it appears that my oil pan is leaking at the front corners. I put a "diagnostic diaper" at the front, see pics. There is more leaking from the passenger side (red arrow) than the driver side (green arrow). This test was about 20 miles of driving. There is no oil coming from the valve covers or heads, it's dry on top. There is definitely oil at the bolts on each front corner of the pan, and on the rubber gasket at the bottom of the pan where it meets the timing cover (but I think the leak is at the top corners, but I'm not sure how it got onto the front part of that rubber gasket, could be leaking there too). No oil coming from timing cover crank seal. No oil on any other pan bolts or along the pan gasket, just at the front corners (these pics were taken just after removing the diaper, but before I put it on there was oil drops at the passenger side bolt and a bit of oil on the driver side bolt around the lock washer). The bolts are really snug; I didn't try to tighten them more, but they were pretty tight already when I put my socket on there to see.
Questions: 1. common for pan to leak there? 2. clean/dry the area and try to seal from the outside with RTV? 3. any chance its leaking around the bolts themselves, i.e. remove, dry/clean, reinsert with sealant? 4. If nothing else works, can I remove the pan with the engine in the car? Seems like there's a lot of space in that regard if I remove the center link.
Thanks all.
Brian
After some testing, checking, it appears that my oil pan is leaking at the front corners. I put a "diagnostic diaper" at the front, see pics. There is more leaking from the passenger side (red arrow) than the driver side (green arrow). This test was about 20 miles of driving. There is no oil coming from the valve covers or heads, it's dry on top. There is definitely oil at the bolts on each front corner of the pan, and on the rubber gasket at the bottom of the pan where it meets the timing cover (but I think the leak is at the top corners, but I'm not sure how it got onto the front part of that rubber gasket, could be leaking there too). No oil coming from timing cover crank seal. No oil on any other pan bolts or along the pan gasket, just at the front corners (these pics were taken just after removing the diaper, but before I put it on there was oil drops at the passenger side bolt and a bit of oil on the driver side bolt around the lock washer). The bolts are really snug; I didn't try to tighten them more, but they were pretty tight already when I put my socket on there to see.
Questions: 1. common for pan to leak there? 2. clean/dry the area and try to seal from the outside with RTV? 3. any chance its leaking around the bolts themselves, i.e. remove, dry/clean, reinsert with sealant? 4. If nothing else works, can I remove the pan with the engine in the car? Seems like there's a lot of space in that regard if I remove the center link.
Thanks all.
Brian
