Ryan's Camaro Project Thread...

[FUBAR]

Well for those who don't know my heater got fixed to an extent this weekend, I now have adequate control over the air temp but a replacement lever needs to be found for part of heater control that has been broken off in the passengers footwell. once this is replaced I will have complete control again

So at least I won't get numb toes driving around anymore.

On a Bad note my Oil leak has got a lot worse... I put 2 ltrs in her this evening and its UP TO the "Add 1qt" Line

[FUBAR]

Move the oil discussion here guys, keep edges thread on topic as its about a day out.

[55starchief]

I would remove each sump bolt spray some carb cleaner in the hole it came from and put some silicon on the bolt and re install. We had a oil leak on the westfield and this solved the problem

[philoldsmobile]

have you tried wynns stop leak? it does work, although its more liekley to reduce rather than stop the leak.

takes a couple of weeks to be fully effective though..

[FUBAR]

Quoting: philoldsmobile

have you tried wynns stop leak?

Nope, might see if I can get the oil pressure sender out tonight, i've got the teflon stuff graeme lent me so, apart from it being a pain to get too its possible...

Apart from that the damn thing needs cleaning properly so it can be investigated properly

[Jamieg285]

Quoting: FUBAR

Apart from that the damn thing needs cleaning properly so it can be investigated properly

A very good move. If you clear all the old crap out of the way, you should be able to see where the leak is starting.

[philoldsmobile]

there are a few areas that are prime candidates for oil leaks on SBC's

pressure sender
dizzy gasket
inlet gaskets on the 'china wall'
rocker cover gaskets
crank seals

its also possible, but unlikley to leak from...

head gaskets,
timing cover gasket,
sump gasket

[FUBAR]

Quoting: philoldsmobile

dizzy gasket

That could be a distinct possibility, I didn't realise it had one...... the bulkhead is all oily behind the engine...

[philoldsmobile]

if thats the case, its not too bad a job to fix, and very cheap. (i think the gasket is about £1)

should be no more than an easy mornings work

[Jamieg285]

Quoting: philoldsmobile

should be no more than an easy mornings work

That'll be afternoon if Ryans doing it  

[philoldsmobile]

should be able to do the job in about an hour...

[philoldsmobile]

in fact, i'll check, i may have a dizzy gasket sitting around here..

[FUBAR]

Quoting: Jamieg285

That'll be afternoon if Ryans doing it

True tho...

Whats worrying is that i've been driving around with so little oil in the car  I Knew that Oil on you're road was from my car Phil there wasn;t much there because there wasn't much left!

[philoldsmobile]

the oil pickup is right near the bottom of the sump, so you can littereally run them down to about a liter before it kills the engine.


also, it would be quite obvious if the engine ran out of oil, the noise from a small block with no pressure is quite horrible.

if you added a liter, to bring it to the "add 1 quart" level, there was at least 3 liters left in there, too low, but not dangerously low..

[Jamieg285]

Does your pressure light/guage still work?  If there hasn't been any sign of it (and it's working) then you should be OK. Not ideal, but I don't think any lasting damage would have been done.

[philoldsmobile]

the pressure sender is definatley bad, hence the irratic pressure readings (the needle flits up, indicating it is earthing out) plus its wet by the sender. of the dizzy gasket is bad too, it could loose quite a lot of oil.

the sender can cause quite drastic leaks, because it is one of the only parts of  the engine, other than the head gasket that is in a direct pressure fead area, so a pinhole in the sender would have a spray of about 45psi of oil coming out  of it - it would loose oil at quite a notable rate. of course, it would get steadily worse over time.

if we do the dizzy gasket out of course, that would make access to the sender dead easy..

perhaps we might have time on saturday?

[philoldsmobile]

Quoting: Jamieg285

Does your pressure light/guage still work? If there hasn't been any sign of it (and it's working) then you should be OK. Not ideal, but I don't think any lasting damage would have been done.

there is no light on the thirgen. the guage is a steady reading, then flits UP as the sender dies, but never dips down. i am confident the engine never lost oil pressure, especialy considering the slightly baggy bottom end - any loss of pressure would have resulted in a quite alarming big end rattle, and an audible lifter rattle from all lifters. its a quite distinctive and VERY loud noise / vibration

[FUBAR]

Well its filled as far as I could go on the Oil I had left over from before, I didn't want to start adding a 3rd kind of oil into the engine.  After all its now got Halfords el-cheapo & Castrol GTX High Mileage in it already!

[FUBAR]

Quoting: philoldsmobile

in fact, i'll check, i may have a dizzy gasket sitting around here..

Actually i Just remembered I've got a Gasket kit with the car, there will more than Likely be one in that!

whats it looks like? just a small cardboard ring?

[philoldsmobile]

yup, small ring about the size of a golf ball

[Roadkill]

Failing that I've got some good quality Gasket paper in my tool box.

[FUBAR]

Car's going to Rocky's on Friday Morning for him to quote for repairs I'm slightly worried...

[Roadkill]

Good luck, Mate.

Have a good look around . . . I'll be sending some work his way soon so get "a feel" for him.

[FUBAR]

I just hope its not too expensive, especially as it looks like i'm going to have a large insurance bill again this year (see other thread)

[Jamieg285]

He's good, the workshop ain't that big, and it untidy (as most workshops are )  There's been at least 2 yanks there both times I went.

Can't fault the quality of the work, or the price.  I would definitely take mine back.