Chasing an oil smell at WOT

[XfireZ51]

Well I thought I had fixed my problem with an oil smell that comes only at WOT operation. And for several weeks I didn't have any oil spotting. However, took the car out the other day and had that smell come back and maybe a puff of smoke out the back (maybe not sure). My working hypothesis is that at WOT, crankcase pressure is increasing forcing some oil out. Enough to burn but not enough to be visible or really drip. I checked the header stud on passenger side. Its dry. And the oil appears to drip from near front of the car, maybe the oil cooler? Oil lines are dry but the issue has gotten progressively worse. So I decided to do what =Jeff= did, and pull the cam cover to replace the Scotchbrite used as a coalescing media for oil fumes. I am doing the passenger side first because
1. Oil drips appear on that side of the engine bay
2. I have a cam cover bolt adjacent to the vent tube tower that has oil seepage past the doty washer.

So I have pulled the cam cover and I have a few pics that I am posting for Pete because I thought it would be interesting to see the condition of the cam lobes after 2500miles.

Ok, I got the Permatex 51813 so I am ready to start re-assembly. Keep you posted.;)

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x198/Z51Xfire/CamCover006.jpg


http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x198/Z51Xfire/CamCover001-1.jpg


http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x198/Z51Xfire/CamCover002-1.jpg








http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x198/Z51Xfire/CamCover004.jpg

[sammy]

dominic ,you might also look at the oil filter housing . the bolts worked loose on both of my cars. causing them both to leak , which i at first mistakenly thought were the oil cooler lines .might not be your problem ,just thought to share

[XfireZ51]

Here's an update all.
Given that I was seeing a spotting of oil and smelling oil whenever I went WOT, I thought that perhaps the issue may be crankcase pressurization. I spoke w Marc Haibeck about this and he described how the issue appears over 5K rpm. This was very much what I had been experiencing. In fact, it became more and more pronounced over time. When we built the motor, I gave Pete "scotch brite" to be used for the vents in the cam covers. As I continued to drive, I saw small oil spotting from a number of areas on the motor but it seemed to be concentrated on the passenger side of the motor. I saw some slight oil pooling on the cam cover bolt adjacent to the vent tube tower. =Jeff= had experienced something similar and changed the vent tube material. I decided to do the same and began by removing the scotch brite thru the vent tube. Stupid me! I soon realized that the cam cover had to come off. I decided to do just the passenger side at this point since this seemed to be the suspicious side of the motor. It may not be the material but rather how or how much may have been packed into the vent area. I bought some of the vent material from Marc and replaced the the "scotch brite". Needless to say, I was a bit apprehensive about having made sure that both the cylinder head and cam cover had been cleaned not to mention that I had applied the anaerobic sealant properly. Finally got the chance to take the car out today. Did several 7k rpm runs. No oil smell and so far no oil spotting.
What fun to drive this car. Now that it appears that that the oil is controlled and that new shocks are in place, this car is a blast.
I went to a car show and walked around. Somebody had a Ford GT with a Roush SC. Listed at 430hp.
I snickered!:D

[Paul Workman]

Woo Hoo! Glad to hear it!

BTW, that makes two of us "straightening the curves" Sunday... Had a blast doing the "Utica run" & may have found a new route hugging the north side of the IL river... WE will have to check it out on Saturday the 10th, yes?:cheers:

P.

[FU]

Glad to hear that you found the problem and all's well !

[XfireZ51]

Glad to hear that you found the problem and all's well !

Frank,

Just took a quick look this morning and I think I'm getting a bit of seepage from the dipstick seal. Otherwise all areas of the frame, trans and oil pan appear dry. One issue that has been contributing to the "smell" is the trans tunnel seal. Took a look under the shifter console a few weeks ago and saw the seal not sealing against the trans tunnel opening. The seal itself needs replacing and I hope to get to that now that the oil issue appears to be managed. Hope to be installing my WB at the same time.

[VetteMed]

Dom, did you ever get the oil smell sorted out completely?

[XfireZ51]

Dom, did you ever get the oil smell sorted out completely?

Yes I did. I think the main culprit was the crankcase pressurization due to the cam cover vent blockage. As a consequence I also had seepage from the passenger side oil pan stud. I was able to use RTV on it and then a Doty washer to help seal that. Along with better crankcase venting, it appears to be holding. I was also able to install a new trans tunnel seal which cut down both heat and vapor from getting into the interior.

[VetteMed]

Yes I did. I think the main culprit was the crankcase pressurization due to the cam cover vent blockage. As a consequence I also had seepage from the passenger side oil pan stud. I was able to use RTV on it and then a Doty washer to help seal that. Along with better crankcase venting, it appears to be holding. I was also able to install a new trans tunnel seal which cut down both heat and vapor from getting into the interior.

Thanks for the info. I noticed some oil smell today after driving the car hard, so I have some investigating to do...

[bdw18_123]

...
What fun to drive this car. Now that it appears that that the oil is controlled and that new shocks are in place, this car is a blast.
I went to a car show and walked around. Somebody had a Ford GT with a Roush SC. Listed at 430hp.
I snickered!:D

Yup, these cars are definitely a blast!

As for the Ford GT, I assume you mean a Mustang GT? Because I work on a lot of Ford GT's (the new version of the old GT40 that Ford made in '05 & '06) at my buddy's shop and stock they are 550HP and with an upgraded SC, they easily north of 700-800RWHP (depending on the SC size, other mods, etc.).

[rhipsher]

Dom I used stainless steel scrubbing pads I bought in the dishwashing isle at the grocery store. Pinched off some and stuffed it in each side of the cam covers. Not to much but just enough to keep it in place. Its worked great ever since.
A few months ago I also had a leaky drivers side cam cover coming from the rubber cam plug facing the fire wall. This time I was very liberal with the loctite 518 and no leaks. But wait! It gets better. Then with the cam cover leak fixed I noticed smoke coming from the passengers side of the engine. I thought you've got to be kidding me. I also found that the passengers side big header exhaust bolt was leaking oil. Cleaned it up and blew it out with compressed air an use red RTV and two months later no leaks or oil smell at all. Now that there's nothing left to fix on it I don't know what im going to do with myself. Lol!