major oil leak, need help Options

[ericoneal]

I finished my pushrod tube seals last night and prepared for a short "shakedown" run this afternoon. Checked oil while cold, and it was at first level mark. Added .5 quart which took it to just above full while cold (odd).
Now this: Attached is a silver box located on my fire wall, used for crankcase pressure. I think its there from when the car was carbed, but the PO had installed Megasquirt FI, but there are still three hoses running to this. It has always been 'oily' but never really leaked. I checked the hoses and wiped it off. They seemed tight. Again, never any real problems from here, so I thought all was good.
After a few miles of spirited driving, I get home and saw the attached. Oil everywhere, pooled on engine, splattered on firewall, etc. Pretty sure it is all comgin from here.
My question is, if the hoses are indeed tight (i did not touch them), what would cause this? Pressure overload from the crankcase? Too much oil?

IM at a loss.

[cpavlenko]

Looks like u put to much oil.

[malcolm2]

Maybe when you checked the oil, you did not fully seat the stick and it looked low....then added more and you are over filled. You can't tell where it is coming from? Clean it up and get a helper to start the car and you watch for drips or an oil spray.

#2. The silver box is not supposed to hold oil, right? Just oily air flowing around and eventually burning off? If so, it seems that a hose is blocked and the oil is pooling up in the box and leaking out.

Maybe, since it sounds like you don't think you need the box and did not put it there yourself. Take it off as a troubleshooting measure. You can always put it back.

[ericoneal]

Thanks, maybe I did overfill.. Will check when it settles more.
I did let it idle for 5-10 minutes before I left the house and nothing was leaking, seemed to only happen once I got out driving it.

Maybe when you checked the oil, you did not fully seat the stick and it looked low....then added more and you are over filled. You can't tell where it is coming from? Clean it up and get a helper to start the car and you watch for drips or an oil spray.

#2. The silver box is not supposed to hold oil, right? Just oily air flowing around and eventually burning off? If so, it seems that a hose is blocked and the oil is pooling up in the box and leaking out.

Maybe, since it sounds like you don't think you need the box and did not put it there yourself. Take it off as a troubleshooting measure. You can always put it back.

[rhodyguy]

if like other breather box styles, the empi breather box would have a piece of foam in it that helps control the vapors. the outlets are slightly above the bottom of the box and oil will pool in the bottom. squeezing the oil out of the foam and mopping up the inside is part of regular maint. check to see if the foam is in there. running djet the bb should be unneeded and vapors controlled via the pvc valve and the port to draw off said vapors. time to go back to the stock system.

[72hardtop]

Make sure you don't kink the breather box hose too much. (hose to puke can)

Could also be crank seal on cooling fan side.

[ericoneal]

Good call guys, oil seems to be overfilled, not sure how I let that happen. I am going to change the oil tomorrow with the proper amount. All oil looks to have came from only the breather box, so hopefully nothing else is damaged. Gonna open that too and clean it out if needed, thanks for the info.

[brant]

Just dribble half a quart out of the drain. The other half already came out

[Jake Raby]

Those boxes lack volume for an engine bigger than 1500ccs... That, and if you have that much volume in the breather you've probably got some worn parts internally and have excess crankcase pressure from it.

The higher the RPM and the hotter the engine, the more significant these symptoms will be.

[malcolm2]

After driving to work today, I parked and decided to check MY OIL. 20 mile drive, engine was hot. Probably was not turned off for a full minute.

My dip stick, well seated, registered 1 qt low. I was surprised. New engine, 1st 3000 miles, Sure don't see any smoke. I see some drips in the garage, but those are tranny output shaft related. Maybe a drip or two on the taco plate cover that will be swapped out and re- washered and gasketed at the next oil change, but not a qt. Hot engine 1 qt low. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

this evening, after hours of being parked, I checked it again.... PERFECT oil level. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

Anyone have a rule of thumb on waiting to check the oil? I will check tomorrow after an hour or so.

[ericoneal]

Yup, same here. I seem to get a different reading everytime I check.
I drained all of the oil overnight last night, then refilled with EXACTLY 3.2 quarts (no filter change) and the dipstick says I am .5 quarts over.

Good news is that I took her out for a short spin and no exploding breather box and all pushrod tubes are sealed except one. The only one that didnt "pop" as I put it back. Gonna try to get back in there and remove and replace to see if that fixes it. Probably the first time in 40 years that my car has only dripped one drop of oil after a drive.