So I took my newly repaired Z06 out to an autocross this weekend. After 6 runs it started leaking oil EVERWHERE. I opened the hood and it was a colossal ******* mess.

Well, I cleaned it up and found that one of my oil cooler lines had shifted and come in contact with my power steering pump pulley. I'm not sure if it happened as a result of the crash, or from hitting a cone, or just kinda wiggled its way there. Either way, the pulley ate a hole in the line and it was spraying oil out onto the pulley and belt, which flung it all over the engine bay.. With how much got on the headers I guess I should be grateful it didn't catch on fire.

I got it back to the driveway and cleaned everything up and found the problem. After briefly considering capping the lines I remembered that it would stop oil flow to the rest of the engine and decided against it.

So now I needed to move it into the shop. I had hoped to not cause a colossal ******* mess (again) so I wrapped the bad line in paper towels for the 10 foot journey to the shop. I learned an important lesson--- oil at 40psi comes out at a greater rate than the absorption rate of paper towels. It made a colossal ******* mess.

So now I get to replace the line while elbow deep in an oily engine bay. Parts won't be here until Wednesday, so I have three whole days to dread this job. I can't wait.

 

sounds like a colossal **** show.........kinda like every project I do......good luck

 

Good luck getting everything sorted out. Hang in there, it will pay off in good times down the road.

 

A real dang old mess man I tell you what!!



Lol, sorry dude. At least you've isolated the problem and can deal with it. Godspeed brother!

 

Life of a project car. This thing was pretty clean when I bought it. Only mods were some LT headers and a Vararam intake. Now it has an LS3 swap (after blowing the LS6), a rebuilt transmission, coilovers, widebody, and a bunch of other minor stuff. I've gone full shitibox with it, but it still looks clean on the outside. I'm sure I'll find new and exciting ways to make it less reliable in the near future!

 

Sorry to hear about that, at least it’s a fairly inexpensive fix and you caught it before locking up the motor.

 

What do your oil temps get to during an event? I didn't think an oil cooler would be needed for autocross.

 

Water temps were a bigger problem during autocross, but I also track the car. Oil temps at the track would get up in the 280s, and the pressure would get pretty low. I think that's a big contributor to my LS6 eating a piston a few years ago

 

Got it. I have done two cool weather track days, going to probably see my first hot weather day for an August 1st event. I'm a little anxious over the oil temps.

Good luck with the repairs.

 

I once did this on the side of the freeway!! I was working 60 miles from home, but was lucky I was only 3/4 mile from work when it happened. I had told the shop that did the mods that the Kooks LTs they were installing were new to the car, and to double check the oil cooler lines for interference with the different exhaust. Even printed out a special note describing potential issues. Either they couldn't read, or didn't want to read it. 500 miles later, James Bond woulda been proud of the smoke screen, and oil slick, I put down!!! I had an old style "sandwich" adapter that fed, and returned the oil, to the block. It was installed between the filter and block. I just removed the entire setup, and screwed the oil filter to the block, like stock. I needed to borrow a floor jack from work, and I got a ride to go buy 5qts of oil. This all took 3 hours+!!! But I got it. Whatta mess!!!!! I feel your pain............

 

Sorry to hear that! Shouldn't be too hard to fix. Getting everything cleaned up will be the bigger job.

 

That sucks it happened, but you do get more quality bonding time again and you found an issue that needed attention. I hate cleaning oil sprays though. But.....the squeaks you may have had, will be gone now.

 

X2 on your squeaks going away. Lol!

Gunk that motor before you touch it. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

 

I'm having a lovely summer day at the beach! This job is an even bigger mess than I expected. Oil is EVERYWHERE. I drained the crank case because I needed to do an oil change anyway, but there was still a TON of oil left in there, plus it's everywhere else. I have a feeling this car will be dripping oil for a LONG time. It's one of those deals where no matter how much I clean, there will always be more oil trapped somewhere.

At least I confirmed my diagnosis, and it will be a pretty straightforward fix. I won't say it's "easy" just because of the lack of space in the engine bay to route everything, but once I get the new hose made and thrown in (after I cool off for a bit) it should fix the problem.

 

Best wishes on the fix.

I am surprised though- I have a base C5 with DeWitts radiator and engine oil cooler that I put on seven years ago. The oil lines are nowhere near the PS pump.

 

It all depends where you route them. I didn't do a good job isolating the upper one and it found its way to the pump.

Lesson learned. I did a much better job isolating the new line. Car is fixed and ready.

 

Cleaning up will be the bigger pain I suspect. Let us know how it goes.

 

After your done, be sure to add the most important tool to your trunk!!!!

 

The proper term in C5 Forced Induction is Chitbox.

Thread worth reading: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...y-chitbox.html

 

Man, I do not envy you trying to get the oily mess cleaned off of your engine bay.