RagtopMike

So Monday was a HPDE with my 2008 Z Bone stock with NT05's and bars at PIR in Portland. At the end of the day I was flagged for mechanical problems and the car seemed to be smoking excessively. I took it back to the pits and found that I had oil all over under the car. The oil was hitting the cat’s and exhaust to cause the smoke. My oil pressure was perfectly normal my oil temp and water temps were perfect. My oil level was not overfilled this time, I checked it was about a ¼” below the top fill mark all day.

I have not had a chance yet to find out where it is coming from this time. But last year after a autocross I had oil dripping from under the radiator area and thought it was my oil cooler lines. After tearing things apart I found that my air cleaner and air bridge were covered with oil so it was coming from the vent tubes off of the dry sump where it comes in to the intake. I assumed at that time that I had somehow over filled the system and it had blown back so I cleaned filter and everything and ran several more autocross events last year with no problem.

I am assuming that I am having the same problem now but until I get it torn apart I do not know for sure. Has anyone else experienced this type of problem with their Z? I am also assuming that a oil catch can will take care of the problem if it should continue?

Please do not turn this into a ticking time bomb discussion about Valves or Oil Starvation issues.

Also posted in the Z06 forum........

el es tu

i agree it sounds like youre getting oil into the intake and its dripping out the airbox and onto the radiator

if you decide to get a catch can - these are pretty neat

http://www.radiumauto.com/Catch-Cans-C58.aspx

froggy47

Other things to consider front engine seal, main seal (happened on my c5z).

RagtopMike

Have you installed one of these in a C6 Z...... Any instruction on mounting locations? How easy to get to if you need to empty at the track?

RagtopMike

I will check that out........ Thanks.

el es tu

I have not but here are some photos of where people have mounted various cans.

BTW the smaller cans seems like theyd mount easily, but you may want to take some measurements if you decide to go with the competition can (I think it should fit against the radiator shroud by the airbox)




good luck!

RagtopMike

Thanks for the input guy's.......... Checked it out last night and no oil on front side of the belts or radiator area / oil cooler or air filter. So my hopes of it being oil blow by are gone. All of the oil is from the front of the motor. The first location I can find oil is on the bottom of the power steering unit and block then the front driver side of the pan & left side of the cross member all the way back to the exhaust. I am also about 1 quart low on oil now. (power steering fluid is still full). No oil on the front right of motor.


So I am thinking front main seal or ????

froggy47

To diagnose mine I cleaned it all up with brake cleaner & added dye to the oil. Then drove it. Then inspect with Infared light.

Don't drive it too far or it will just spray all over & it'll be hard to see where it originated.

It should be covered if you have any kind of warranty, but lose all the racy parts b4 you go for the warranty.

Otherwise it's about 2k to pay to fix.

You would think by now gm could seal an engine so it would not leak.

RedLS1GTO

Interesting thread... I just developed what seems to be the exact same issue on my C5Z.

Oil on the left side of the engine, the left side of the radiator shroud, and even on the front left side of the intake manifold. It actually looks at first glance as if it might be coming out of the valve cover gasket but I haven't had time to dig into it yet. Of course with my luck it will be the front cover...

Froggy, what all needs to come off to get to that?

froggy47

A lot, rack, balancer, w/p are the hard ones. I have done the balancer myself recently, but I had the leak done under warranty so I do not have a detailed procedure on that, when I did the balancer, as I looked up at the area the only thing left was the w/p.

So if anyone needed to do it they could follow my balancer video & just add the w/p to it and you should be right there at the front cover.

The upper pan also mates to the front cover so that complicates the whole thing.
Depending on the leak it can be the front cover and the pan where it mates to the front cover.

larryfs

Your lucky no one spun in your oil.

RedLS1GTO

At least in my case, it is such a small amount that there is no worry of that. No more than a couple of drops... not even remotely close to enough to oil down a track.