In another thread I chronicled my progress, successes and failures to reduce the engine oil drips dropping from the bottom of my car’s engine that were coming from the intake manifold seals, cylinder head gaskets, valve cover gaskets, and believe it or not – an oil fill cap without a sealing gasket. Thankfully, the drips and drops are now MUCH less frequent.
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Before starting the intake manifold / valve cover project, I suspected my car’s rear main seal and/or oil pan gasket were another source for some of the engine oil drips/drops. Now that I KNOW there is no engine oil leaking from the intake manifold seals, cylinder head gaskets, valve cover gaskets, and/or oil fill cap I’m able to see how much engine oil is leaking from other possible sources like the rear main seal, front main seal, and the oil pan gasket. In the pictures below of the cardboard under my car, you can see the biggest engine oil drip is dropping from the bottom of the bell housing and/or inspection cover and it makes sense that the rear man seal (RMS) could be the culprit. Personally, I think the majority of the drip is indeed coming from the RMS but I’m not mechanically gifted so my thoughts don’t count for much but it certainly is reasonable to suspect the RMS.
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In that prior thread, it was suggested to try the BlueDevil Rear Main Sealer product. I’ll try to demonstrate its effectiveness in future posts, but today I’ll simply try to demonstrate the drips/drops from BEFORE using the BlueDevil Rear Main Sealer product, and in the days/weeks to come we’ll all be able to see how effective this product is…
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Side note: the drip on the bottom of the bell housing looks like it still has in it some of the UV dye from the prior engine oil.


This is the location of the rear drop zone (bottom of the bell housing)

This is the location of the front drop zone (the front of the oil pan)

You can see engine oil residue/grime below the front main seal area draining down to the front of the oil pan
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Day 1 after the last drive

Day 2 after the last drive

Day 3 after the last drive (not much change)

 

I’ll be curious as to your results. I’ve been using it in some of my engines and it seems to be helping although it’s an uphill battle as some of them have some pretty old cork gaskets on them that just can’t effectively seal up after a couple decades in use.

 

Sometimes what seems so simple is not....
When I was very young I replaced the intake " pan " gasket on my 440 powered super bee many times trying to fix an oil leak ... It was the oil pressure sending unit dripping down the back of the engine...
Chevy 2.8 V6 engines had an oil leak problem that was hard to diagnose at first most thinking valve cover leaks... It was the oring on the " plug " that went in the distributor hole in the block ( which was no longer used ).....

 

Brian,

Two things:

1. Are you sure that oil on the bottom of the gearbox isn't gear oil, and not engine oil?

2. I think I'm seeing a crack in your bellhousing. Suggest you confirm that it either is or isn't.

Live well,

SJW

 

Blue Devil has worked well for me on different cars and different locations, both test main seal and timing cover seal.

 

Blue Devil has sealed slow leaks for me in the past. The key to making it work is to drive the vehicle often and put miles on it. Just putting a can of Blue Devil in the crankcase isn't going to do any good.

 

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I know there can be several places from which these gen 4 engines can leak engine oil and far be it for me to think I have looked at ALL of them but I know that I have ruled out the oil pressure line where it threads into the block as well as the gasket that sits under the distributor. Like I said, there may be other gaskets that I don't know about but I DID fix the engine oil leaks coming from the intake manifold seals, cylinder head gaskets, valve cover gaskets, and oil fill cap. That was my intention/goal with that project - to reduce (or eliminate if possible) the drips that were coming from the TOP side of the engine: the intake manifold seals, cylinder head gaskets, valve cover gaskets, and oil fill cap. I did that. Now, unless I'm mistaken, the only places the engine oil can be leaking from now are on the BOTTOM side of the engine - like the rear main seal, front main seal, oil pan gasket, etc. Is this right?

 

I'm not sure if this is top or bottom (middle?) but the oil galley and cam plugs have been known to leak.

 

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Wow I'm always learning something from you guys. I've never even heard of the oil galley nor cam plugs. I'll be sure to look that up and try to find those locations. Thanks.