Massive oil leak, driver side, not dipstick nor breather tub

[fporro]

Aloha guys,

My 89 m20 engine developed a massive oil leak, it POURS it all out (not dripping) as engine runs, pressure is good @ 3+ bar (but used to reach 4+ bar).
less than 100K's on rebuilt engine., what could couse this ?

Searched various sites and "Rear Main Seal" don't seem to go bad that often, so perhaps something else gave away.,
passenger side is dry so not oil pressure sender nor anything else there.

Compression test # 1/175, 178, 175, 177, 177, # 6/185 @ 7 cranks x 2 (releasing pressure in between)
Max readings test: # 1/180, 180, 178, 179, 177, # 6/188 (@ 8+ cranks)

Cheerios,
Frank

[Yoshi]

check the bitch tube. I need more information about where the oil is coming from.

[fporro]

dip stick and oil pan to intake manifold tube's fine too.

pouring out from between oil pan and engine, driver-side, just below starter/front-ward of trans bell housing, removing that cover now to take quick video.

Thanks for quick reply Yoshi.

[M20_fever]

Sure you didn't crack the pan?

[fporro]

removed skid plate and oil pan is fine, so cleaned things up better and now can feel it coming from top side of metal bitch pipe # 12,
Spring # 13 and metal washer # 11 are there, not sure about # 10 "O Rings", maybe they cracked, etc,

the only question now is ... why would oil back out from there ?

Can't look in oil pan as drain plug needs an impact wrench, last oil change guys overworked it.,
I'll have to remove oil level sensor and look through there.

thanks.

[Yoshi]

The bitch tube is part of an oil drain that comes from the head and dumps back into the oil pan. It's a really dumb design. I think it's because the engine didn't have space for all the drains needed. Thankfully, you can probably get the bitch tube out pretty easily and slap new O rings in. I always used some extra RTV to help the o ring stay on and "tack up". Just make sure it's all clean. You shouldn't have to remove the head or anything.

When you go to put the bitch tube back in, use thin zip ties to compress the spring. It'll make life much easier and allow you to keep the intake manifold on the head. Though, never hurt to take all that off and clean stuff while you're in there.

[fporro]

thanks,

the head it's being flooded with oil, looks like coming from under exhaust cam love, used a mirror and i see some kind of fitting or something. what is that ??? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNpAbvkZbqU

[Yoshi]

I think that's how the head is supposed to work with oil. Fitting where now?

[fporro]

i'm using a little mirror and there seems to be some sort of bolt head ... here's a great picture of it, maybe coming from there ???

I'll clean out sprayer as noticed oil drain plug.oil temp sensor being too tight to remove, wondering how long is it been since oil was properly drained,

she did run with coolant temp gauge at 3/4 high and stop when oil pressure was dropping to .02bar.

will a head job fix it or is it crank bearings too ? asking since compression numbers are so closes together.

[Yoshi]

you mean that bolt in the middle of the head? I forget but it's something like a drain to clean out the head. It's internal. Won't cause an external leak.

[fporro]

yeap, your right,

1st update, looks like head is being flooded with oil coming from journal bearings, is that a excessive amount being purged? don't remember ever seeing that.

2nd update, raised and restricted head's breather channel height so oil won't run down that way anymore, crank vent fumes still gets through, it's a temporary fix while I source a head.

sprayer not clogged but there's not enough pressure for anything to squirt out of, never the less, there's significant splashing with all of that oil slushing about.

what's the estimated time before rocker bushings fail.

mahalo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNpAbvkZbqU