A game of ... help me find the oil leak!

[xveganxcowboyx]

I just started my new engine up. All was well, drove it around the block. All was well. Took it for a little longer drive 3/4 of a mile or so. And by the time I got home I saw no oil pressure. It seems all my oil managed to leak out in this short period of time.

There was a fine mist on the drivers side windshield (no hood on). It was also thick around the front of the engine (mechanical front, not the front of the car), the axle, oil filter housing and even a bit up in the plug wires. I put in a balance shaft elimation kit and converted to a 90 oil filter housing. I think the leak is behind the lower timing belt cover. I'm going to have to pull things apart to try and track this leak down, but does anyone have any likely culprits? What should I be looking for?

[JET]

Make sure the oil filter wasn't just loose. I would put some more oil in it and try to track it down so you have an idea of where it is coming from.

[xveganxcowboyx]

The oil filter was pretty solid and the oil is more on the outside of the housing, not so dirty on the filter side. I'm going to check the lines to the cooler, but I feel like I might have missed something on the engine. Is there an easy way to get at that side of the engine with it still in the car?

[Enes]

pain in the arse to get to it while in the engine bay.. but its doable..

Remove side engine mount, and disconnect front/back engine mounts.
Support the engine with a jack and something soft between the engine and jack so you don't damage/bend anything.
then do the shimmy up/down as you need to clear the frame to remove bolts...

-E

[Enes]

In cases like this its nice to invest a few bux into the black light and the marker stuff that goes into the oil. run it just for 10 seconds at a time until you see some show up with the black light and that will be ONE of your leaks, since you can't really see where its coming from i'm assuming it might be more than one place.

[xveganxcowboyx]

Well, I feel like an idiot. I pulled the lower timing belt cover and ran the engine. There was an obvious leak that I was even warned about via the VFAQ balance shaft elimination instructions: a gaping hole where I should have stuck a bolt. Easy enough fix.

The next issue though is that with plenty of oil in it I'm still not registering oil pressure. I plan to contact the person I got the housing from and see if his oil pressure gauge worked or not. I'm thinking the sender may be bad. I'll search, but I might as well ask here. Is the sender interchangeable with the one off my 91 oil housing? Is there a good way to test it?

If anybody has a 1.5" electric oil pressure gauge with sender for sale please PM me.


*edit* I changed out the senders assuming they were both the same. No change in my oil pressure reading.