grantar2

My car has 3,000 miles on a fresh motor, has a performance chip set. Been running it hard getting ready for autocross and have had some oil blow by the dip stick.

Is this over pressure in the pan caused by pushing the red line, or something else?

Kevova

spinning it up will build more crankcase pressure. You should be running a breather for PCV. At 3000 miles and being a manual ring should have seated. I would do a leak down test or have it done by builder. If you paid for engine build or it's a crate you need talk to vender. Leak down should be under 5%, if the rings are sealing.

aklim

Do a simple compression test by borrowing a tester from Autozone. Pressure should be RELATIVELY even. If not, you need to go digging for the problem. Test each cylinder and rest by charging the battery for a bit after 4 are done. After that, fire some WD40 or better yet, squirt oil into the cylinder and retest. All 8 "dry" should be relatively even as should "wet". If that doesn't clear, do a leakdown test.

Do this sooner than later. I don't like to stretch it too far before I report warranty problems.

383vett

aklim

Don't you need a compressor for that? Or would a cheap air tank work? Not really sure but think that it would take more than one of those portable air tanks.

thurman_merman

My 91 did this too on a good sealing motor. Even with breathers in the valve covers it pushed oil out of the dipstick tube. Put some rtv around the top of the tube and spread a very thin layer of oil around the inside of the dipstick cap with a q-tip. Press the two together trying to force the rtv into the dipstick cap and let it dry overnight. The rtv should form to the inside of the dipstick cap but it won't stick because of the oil. Clean it out with brake cleaner carefully. It's not perfect but mine has gone from dripping off the block to slightly wet around the dipstick after hard runs.

aklim

Interesting. The only time my motor did that was when it was going south and the ECM was picking up a lot of knock, possibly from something worn out. Knock count with WOT lowered with thicker oil and other thickening stuff added. So far, after the fix, only leaks are valve cover and when I miss the hole pouring oil. I tried it with breathers and it was worse. Now there was oil film all over the VC. Gave up and changed it back to the vacuum mode from the manifold vacuum and haven't had any leaks. Even with breathers there was nothing to have that much pressure. Wonder if the OP has breathers or vacuum or maybe vacuum hoses going bad?

thurman_merman

Mine never leaked a drop until I started racing it at a local circuit. I already had breathers fitted and my valve covers were clean before too. I can see that yours was probably from a lot of blow by that wasn't the issue for me. After racing I would notice oily valve covers and quite a bit down the dipstick, on the block and oil pan. The oil finally started pushing out of my RH valve cover so much that it was dumping on the exhaust and pouring smoke from under the hood. I looked into vacuum pumps and a few other things before I decided to run large hoses from the valve covers to a forward mounted catch can and seal the dipstick tube with rtv. After that I didn't have an issue. And I've actually never had oil in the catch can, it was just cornering forces and oil accumulation that was causing the leaks.

Kubs

My '90 race car used to do this as well with a good sealing engine. From the driver perspective, the engine rotates counter clockwise so the crank is splashing oil to the passenger side. Add to this long left turns, or banked left turns, and the oil collects in the RH valve cover or out the dipstick tube. The 30 year old dipstick just doesn't seal well anymore.

I have a Canton road race pan, and the driver side kickout has a few threaded bungs in it. I added one of their universal dipsticks to the pan and bent it up to clear the headers. No more oil coming out.

Kind of hard to see in the pan, but here is my setup:





https://www.cantonracingproducts.com...ion&key=20-850

grantar2

Team I will do the leak down test, and the RTV trick on the dipstick.

The engine would normally be under warranty with less than 3,000 miles however the rebuild itself took place in November 2013. I just haven't driven it very much since retiring, and I have competed with the car since it was rebuilt. (It has 4 SCCA Cal Club Autocross championships) one with me behind the wheel.

The rebuild was finished just before I took early retirement knowing I wasn't going to be driving it very much.

I should mention this is a California Car, and has to meet CA emissions rules.