brant914

Ok.. I might have caused this?
Its a 1986 pickup (automatic)
I bought it with a bad headgasket and just put a new head, plus timing, oilpump, hoses, belts, and filters on it
Its only been running for 1 day

today car washed the engine bay to clean up the antifreeze that I had spilled during the bleeding

I've now got a bad oil leak
I don't know if I caused it with the wash or if it was there anyways... (since the truck only has a couple of miles on it since the repairs)

the oil leak is on the passenger side of the block.
its up high, above the oil filter, but under the intake manifold.
I thought the valve cover was leaking, but I pulled it and actually it looked dry under its lip

is there any oil hoses below the intake plenum?
I see a screw in sensor that maybe the oil pressure?
I can't tell where its leaking from, but I see it dripping down onto the oil filter when I rev the motor

what oil lines or passages are on the passenger side of the block up high?


thank you all in advance
I really appreciate all of the help I've gotten here.
brant

xxxtreme22r

yup that screw in thingy above the oil filter is thew oil pressure sensor. Most likely the cause of the leak. Off hand I don;'t thing other than head gasket there is anything else there on a 22re that could be be leaking oil like that in that vicinity. But I could be wrong.

brant914

xxtreme22R,

I see (down lower) some screw in sensors
but the high up one is pointing straight up and viewable from above.
is that the one your refrencing?

sorry for all of my basic questions
brant

Bassmastry101

iTrader: (1)

How bad is the leak? Maybe double check the oil filter in case the seal from the old filter is still stuck to the block.

brant914

The leak is about one drip per second. That's a good idea abot the oil filter. I had to park it and go to work. But will check the filter

Bassmastry101

iTrader: (1)

find anything out?

brant914

I actually haven't gotten back to it
I had to leave town until friday pm

I do appreciate the check in
I'll get back onto it saturday morning
I'm hoping your right and that the oil filter might be squirting up onto the underside of the manifold.

regarding all of the sensors screwed into the block on the passenger side, does anyone know which are water temp, versus oil?

is the upright-verticle sensor on top (near the valve cover) an oil one?

thanks again everyone!
brant

Bassmastry101

iTrader: (1)

You mean the one coming out of the thermostat housing? That's the water temp sending unit. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the only sensors for the oils I recall is the oil pressure sending unit under the oil filter.

Did you lubricate the ring on the oil filter when you put it in?

What did you torque your head down to and in what sequence?

Some pics would be helpful!

Bassmastry101

iTrader: (1)

Just thought of this one, did you put a gasket on the small two bolt cover on the front passenger side of the head?

brant914

I'll definitely get pictures on saturday. I'll even look closer to see if that sensor is from the thermostat housing. I was thinking it was further back (towards the firewall) and slightly deeper in the crack between the manifold plenum and valve cover. but I'll get pictures and double check.

my leak is definitely on the rear half of the engine length.
the rear intake runner (as it enters the head) is holding a pool of oil, and the front half of the motor is dry. so somewhere on the back passenger side. Of course if oil is squirting then I guess it could be coming from the front.

The oil filter is wet, but it looks like its dripping down from the bottom side of the intake plenum onto the filter when I hold the trottle open and shine a flashlight around.

I will double check, but I remember putting the front gasket onto the head.

I lubricated the new oil filter seal, but can't say that I saw the old seal come off. In fact usually when I screw things up its the last thing I touched. And I did recently touch the oil filter..

I started the motor up with the new head and new oil and let it run about 20 minutes, then drove around the block. It was dry and wasn't leaking at that point. I decided to change the oil in order to flush out any crud I may have caused with the head change. So I put a fresh filter on and new oil and then drove it about 10 miles. I stopped at the car wash to rinse off spilled anti-freeze and then when I came back I found it leaking.

so I really hope it is the oil filter squirting.... or possibly I pressure washed some hose loose?

although I couldn't see any loose hoses and don't think too many run on that side down below the plenum area (the crankcase vent hose is intact going into the plenum and the leak is more than just normal crankcase venting)

Regarding the head torque. I borrowed a better torque wrench than the cruddy one I have from harbor freight. I bought the full gasket kit from engnblder (along with the head) be decided to play it safe and still bought a factory toyota head gasket. after reading all of the threads I went a little higher than the manual recommendations. I think factory is something like 58-61 and I think I went 65ft-lbs
(my memory sucks and my manual isn't with me right now)
I followed the torque sequence in the manual

I had the valve cover off again on thursday to see if it was the leaker... while I was there I put a wrench onto each headbolt and pulled (not to full torque) about 30ft-lbs just to check. Nothing moved

gosh I hope the head isn't the leak problem... really don't want to do that job again. in case you can't tell I'm not the best mechanic, and it took me months to do it the first time on evenings and weekends.

I'll definitely get pictures and see if that sensor I'm thinking of is coming from the thermostat jacket.

thanks again for all and any help
sorry so long
brant

Bassmastry101

iTrader: (1)

It's ok, the detail helps..The head gasket should be fine, that's what I've always torqued mine to. Just recheck it when the engine is hot to be safe.

Is this the sensor your asking about?


I'll admit that I left the old o-ring on one time and it left a nice lake underneath my truck.

brant914

I think that is it... it sits really close to the valve cover. I'll still go look tomorrow to verify. So is that an oil or water sensor?

that rear intake runner is the one pooled full of oil (cyl 3/4)

hmm... I heard to re-torque at 1500miles, but I didn't know it should be a warm torque
thank you a great tip!

brant

Bassmastry101

iTrader: (1)

I'm not really sure what it does, not an oil sensor though..I've been looking all over the manual for it with no luck. Does anyone know what this is?

brant914

I remember some chambers in that manifold that opened into the head.... probably water then, but I'd love some confirmations on that guess...

still if it's not oil, then my oil leak must be somewhere else. hopefully that filter gasket like you thought.

now I'm anxious to get outside in the daylight and pull the filter off.

brant

Bassmastry101

iTrader: (1)

The only other thing I can think of would be valve cover gasket and the rubber half circle at the back of the head. Did you replace those?

Let us know what you find out!

brant914

the valve cover gasket was my guess, but when I pulled the valve cover it was completely in place and actually looked good (I expected it to be out of place and pinched). the bottom lip of the valve cover actually looked dry too.

I replaced it and the half circle end parts also.

what torque should I use on that valve cover. I just snugged it (maybe 12-15lbs?)
but I could of over/under torqued it I suppose.

Bassmastry101

iTrader: (1)

Not really a torque spec for that, just don't tighten it too much or the rocker arms may tick against the valve cover, but not loose enough for it to leak.

brant914

I took some pictures but they don't help much
your picture was better... mine was a bunch of hoses and a few wires blocking most of the view.

so I pulled the oil filter and no extra seal.... darn...

then I cleaned up the pool of oil on the rear-intake and started the truck
no new pool... no new drips
well it was so wet everywhere else it was hard to tell for certain if there were new drips

so I then used a can of engine degreaser on everything and hosed it all down

took it for a 10 mile test drive and the bottom of the frame is still oily (I didn't really use the degreaser down there but should of)

but the intake manifold is dry
the oil filter is dry
and the wires that used to be oily (around the oil filter) are also dry

so I don't know if the filter was somehow leaking (it was tight)
or if taking the valve cover off again on wed maybe fixed it?
(I hadn't cleaned up the mess since taking it off and reinstalling it)

doesn't seam right that i didn't find anything wrong...

its clean now, so I'll drive it more tomorrow and see if it stays clean
I did notice 2 bolt holes on that head (near the intake manifold) that aren't used and dont' have bolts in them
but I remember they were not open passages and were for a different year manifold.

I'll see if the leak comes back
otherwise it must have been the filter or valve cover (the only 2 things i changed)

weird..
but thank you for all of the help
hopefully it doesn't come back!

brant

Bassmastry101

iTrader: (1)

Glad I could help out!

brant914

Me too.
Seriously... thank you Jesse
folks on this board are awesome!