Topic: Very bad engine oil leak possibly under manifold.....Help

[1onehotTA]

hello, I have a question about my 400 6.6 liter W72.  I have a super bad oil leak, it is coming from somewhere on the top of the engine.  I put a new distributor on a while back and when I did there was no gasket on either the old one or with the new one.  My question is, should there be one?  I mean my oil leak is bad, it is hard to determine where it is coming from though.  Also the piece under the intake that covers the engine center looks to have no gasket, but some sort of sealer between it and the block, but it doesnt appear to be leaking there, but like I said it is hard to tell.    Any ideas, there is like a pool that forms on the top of the engine behind the dist.

[Tin Indians Rule]

Did the new distributor you installed have an o-ring seal near the top on the shaft just under the flange the mounting bracket clamps down on??? If not... That may be the problem. It's hard to say. you really need to clean it all off (oil) and start it up and watch for the leak.

[whwright]

Did you have the same problem before you changed the distributor?

I would check the grommet on the PCV valve.  It's in the valley cover, through a hole in the intake manifold.  Oil gets splashed up there quite a bit, and airflow from the fan would tend to blow it toward the back of the engine.  If you inadvertently push or drop it through the hole it isn't the end of the world.  I've seem several engines (one of them my own) where the grommet got dropped inside and never hurt a thing.

I suppose the same sort of thing could happen if the vacuum line to the PCV valve were cracked.  I haven't seen it on a Poncho, but on a couple of 5.0 fords I've worked on they made quite a mess.

I've never had a distributor leak very much oil, and never enough to be a problem.  Technically there should be a skinny paper gasket between the distributor housing and the block, but I think it's more to keep the dizzy from getting stuck than sealing an oil leak.

Good luck!

Wayne.

[1onehotTA]

I solved my oil leak, there is this strange size square drive plug that goes into the block that had come loose.  It doesnt really serve a purpose other than it must come from the pressure side of the oil pump, as I cleaned my engine then ran the car for just a minute at got like a puddle of oil on top of the dist. area of the block.  I removed it easily as it was finger tight, put some thread sealer on it and tighten the &*%$ out of it.  I had to make a square drive to fit it though, as it was like 5/16 square, and we all know socket wrenches are 1/4 or 3/8. so I ground down a large bolt to a sqaure and used it as my driver.  Thanks for all your help.

[whwright]

I believe that's an oil galley plug.  That would cause one heckuva leak all right.

Glad you found it before something was seriously damaged!