johnmyster

2000 Silverado, 5.3. New to me, 175k miles but been taken good care of. Hardly a stone chip, no rust, no lifter tick, etc. Not intended to be my daily driver but hope it's something I can keep many years as a utility vehicle, get me out the driveway when the show gets bad, drive when the car needs repairs, etc. Would like to solve the oil leak(s).

I've degreased twice and watched for where the oil comes from. The good news is that I can q-tip the rear main seal through the inspection hole and flexplate and it's dry. Front cover and front main seal is dry. The rear cover seems dry as well. I've already changed and resealed the oil cooler block off plate. The galley plug over the oil filter is dry too. The valve covers are tight and the oil sending unit is dry.

The main source is the oil pan down both sides, but mostly around the oil filter passages. In addition, there seems to be some weeping from a few of the side cap bolts, but they're so close to the pan gasket I can't tell if the simply "weeping up" in those areas.

I intend to do a pan gasket and replace the oil pickup seal while I'm in there, but what's the possibility the side bolts are contributing too? Typical for these motors or sound unlikely? If so, is it as simple as 10 new bolts from the dealer, and torque appropriately?

Aside: I'm new to LS motors, but show 5 years of lurking hoping to inspire a project swap, or find someone else's for purchase. It may finally happen since I'm out of the driveway, just having gotten my first shop/garage ever, with a built in gantry lift across both bays. As this is my first post, thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Pardon and please direct me if truck engine related posts are taboo for this site.

RonSSNova

iTrader: (3)

You can just remove, clean and re seal them.

JOHNNY59

iTrader: (398)

agree, just use some sealant and re-torque.

johnmyster

Thanks,

I assume I'm looking to seal the shoulder of the bolt and under the head, and not necessarily the threads? 18 ft*lb?

How likely is it that this is a part of my issue? In my case, where you couldn't quite tell if these were contributing or not, would you do this while the pan was dropped or do the pan and come back later if you saw them wet?

RezinTexas

I think it's unlikely that the main cap side bolts would leak, unless the engine has previously been rebuilt and no new sealer was applied to the side bolts.

Put a dab of black RTV under the bolt head and torque to 18 lb-ft if you decide to remove any.

RonSSNova

iTrader: (3)

A trick you can use is to puff some baby powder around each bolt and drive it for a week that will tell you if they are leaking.

Your engine will smell good too