99fastws6

Alright guys and gals, I have terrible news, and a couple of questions. Last week, my buddy and I installed a head/cam package on my 2001 Firehawk. Stage 1 ls6 heads and tsp torquer 2 cam 112 lsa with all the goodies including: ls2 timing chain, ported ls6 oil pump, prc 1518 springs, and the basic gasket and bolt all from Texas Speed. So after a few nights (and a few beers) we finally got everything back together ready to be fired up. All was well, so I decided to take her for a little test drive; keeping it under 4500 rpm, of course. I did about a 40 mile round trip with no issues, except idling problems (but that's to be expected). The next day I'm excited to open it up a little more so I decide to drive her to work. About ten miles down the road I get a low oil light. hmmmmm... I check the oil once I get to work and it is low, but not dangerously low. I notice oil dripping on the ground from the oil pan and there is also fresh oil around the driver side head near the valve covers. Thought it could maybe just be a valve gasket leak til I saw a lot more oil near the oil pan. After work, I stopped to get a quart of oil to put it in just to be safe to make it home. After dropping my buddy off, I had to get gas. THANKFULLY I was low on fuel or else I probably wouldn't have checked the oil. While at the pump I pulled the dip stick and it was bone dry. NOT GOOD. Put it back in and checked again, bone dry. Ok, starting to get a little nervous. Look under the car, and there is a puddle about a ft in diameter of oil. It's everywhere! Had to call a tow truck bc I was afraid to drive it. So, question time. I used the black o ring for the ported ls6 pump. Should I have used the green? What about the PCV valve? Should I have upgraded to the ls6 style or should my car have it since it's an 01? The car has a catch can, so I did not change it. And is it possible that the crankshaft seal was installed backwards? Did we not properly realign the oil pan? What would cause the car to lose a great volume of oil so quickly? Oil pan gasket? After the incident, I was reading ls1howto.com and noticed I was supposed to put a bead of RTV silicone on the bottom of the timing cover, which I did not do Someone please help. I would love to know where I should begin to find this dang oil *spill*. (Sorry for the long story. Wanted to be as thorough as possible).

Majestic9C1

iTrader: (19)

Did you check the Oil Pressure sensor? (located on back of engine behind intake manifold)

could you have cracked it or broke it when you took of the manifold??

99fastws6

The sending unit? Yeah,the sending unit was replaced with a new one from advance. Heard these engines aren't good with after market ones? Should I have went with an oem one? I think the company was BMR?

poltergeist 02

iTrader: (65)

Did you align the timing cover before bolting up the oil pan?

maroonls1z

your best bet is to just get up underneath the car and look, follow the oil back to the source

Burken01

iTrader: (88)

Yep, bust out the jack and flashlights..

You should be able to see exit paths of oil!!

99fastws6

No, we definitely bolted the timing cover back on before bolting down the oil pan. Is this where the mis-alignment came from? Just thought of this as well. I had drill all day today (weekend warrior), and I didn't get to check, but I do remember within the first 10 minutes of driving it, my oil pressure literally bounced back from 0-80 and back to 0 at least 5-6 different times. Maybe we did break the sending unit again when we put the intake back on. That would also cause the oil to be up around the driver side valve cover; not unless it just has a leak itself. and what do you all think, pull the oil pump back out and replace the black o ring I got from TSP with the green one they supplied as well? my pressure didn't really see a change upgrading to the ls6 ported pump. 35-40 warm idle, 45-55 driving around 2500 rpm.

JakeFusion

iTrader: (7)

The o-ring would be an issue with oil pressure... losing 6 quarts of oil is a problem with either pan misalignment, broken sender unit, or no Black RTV on the corners of the oil pan (front cover and rear cover both need two dabs of Black RTV).

99fastws6

sorry, I definitely read this post wrong. Now that you mention it, I'm not sure if we did or didn't How do you exactly align the timing cover? is there a correct and incorrect way to do it? Thought it was just a new gasket and ten 10mm bolts? I wanna say that the timing cover went back before the oil pan, but I dont remember

S10xGN

iTrader: (11)

I vote for the oil pressure sender, either busted or leaking. GM has some chitty senders, we've had two CTS's since 2004 and have replaced these sensors 5x's now...

jrpimp00

iTrader: (17)

Oil sending unit imo, no way youll loose 6qts of oil from a misaligned pan. Theres no pressure in the pan and most of the oil is circulating while the car is running. No need to keep asking on here, you need to get under the car or atleast check whats been mentioned in the thread before anything else.

jsteele90

iTrader: (13)

my bet is the OPSU.

.boB

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like multiple causes. Oil pan, front cover, valve cover, and maybe OPSU.

Use a good foaming engine cleaner, and get all that oil out of there. Since it's splattered all over, you really can't tell where it came from.

Let it dry. completly dry. without running the engine.

Sprinkle baby powder or corn start around all the suspect areas. Run the engine in the drive way for about 5-10 minutes. Keep checking all the suspect areas until you see the powder turns dark. That's where the oil is leaking from.

If it only shows up in one spot, run it for a while longer to find any additional leaks.

99fastws6

This sounds like great advice. I'll be sure to do that tmrw in my buddy's garage since we're supposed to get 2-4" of snow tonight. I appreciate all of the wise words of wisdom from everyone. Hopefully I can get under it tmrw and find the culprit(s)

GMC5.3

iTrader: (2)

Op, if possible please let us know what exactly the cause was, I'm going to be putting a cam in the car for the first time, so I'm trying to cover my *** and learn any common problems

99fastws6

sure will buddy. I'm guessing it's the opsu considering they break so easy and my oil gauge was going ape **** within the first 5-10 min of driving it. I'll let you all know asap.

99fastws6

pulled the intake off today, there seemed to be a lot of leaking coming from the back of the driver side valve cover. There is a solid penny sized gap where I guess the gasket was damaged and isn't sealing properly. I washed the valve covers in a parts washer cleaner that uses verasol and apparently that solvent isn't good for the rubber gaskets causing them to dry up and "flatten" out so they wouldn't seal properly. Ordered a set of fel-pro's through advance and they will be here tomorrow. The opsu still looked intact with no signs of damaging. I'm gonna go ahead and replace it for safety measures. Also, possibly switch out the black o ring I used on the ls6 ported oil pump with the green o ring that TSP provided. Hoping this solves my issues bc I'd love to get her back up and running. Never been in a heads and cam ls1 before, and it's my own so i'm really excited to test her out haha

GMC5.3

iTrader: (2)

DO WORK man, I'm excited for you, I'm getting my cam put in hopefully in April.

WS6ICK2k

Sounds like you have covered the basics keep us poseted!! Goodluck hope you get this issue resolved without to much more trouble. Did you traceback the oil with the car running for a few seconds?

99wssixm6

iTrader: (3)

It does sounds like the Oil Pressure Sending unit or the huge hole in the rear of the valve cover gasket(where oil likes to pool). Just a side note, the oil pan gasket has pressurized oil running through it on the drivers side. When I did me cam/oil pump I didn't replaced the gasket and it did what your is doing. I actually had it idling in front of the lift getting the lift set and the gasket let go. It pumped the entire pan dry in about 5 seconds.....huge puddle on the shop floor!