Tuffguy610

iTrader: (2)

As many of you know, with an oil change comes some type of bad news because you are underneath the car and find something has worn or something is leaking. As for me, this bad news appears to be oil coming from the oil pan gasket and the drivers valve cover gasket. When I pop my hood I can see what appears to be oil leaking down the side of the head and onto the exhaust manifolds (very very small amount). The oil pan gasket has a small amount of oil residue along the seam where the bottom of the block meets the oil pan on the drivers side. This could possibly be from that assembly above the oil filter, but I am not sure because I was too mad to look any further. My car has 75,000 miles on it and was well taken care of while under my ownership (since 62,000 miles) and should have been taken care of while under the previous ownerships as well because the car is extremely clean. My question to you all is, what is wrong here? This is an LS style engine and these things should not happen at 75k. I usually run between 5 and 5.5 quarts of Castrol GTX 10W30 and change it at 2800 miles to be safe. Any reasons why this might be happening? Do they sometimes seap but not cause any serious leaks? Please advise.

brad8266

iTrader: (23)

Check the oil pressure sending unit too, they are known to leak, mine did. Its stands up right behind the intake manifold.

Tuffguy610

iTrader: (2)

Thanks brad, when it gets warmer out I will get this thing up on jackstands and go over it with a fine toothed comb. I hope that I am not putting too much oil in it (i never add more than 5.5 quarts when doing an oil change). I heard these gaskets were supposed to be some state of the art silicone or some other technical chemical compound. Any body else have major problems with their LSx in terms of oil leaks? How are the rear main seals on these things?

92zcamaroperson

iTrader: (18)

from what i have heard from a guy i know who is a service technician at a local dealership that the main perimiter seals usually go on these motors around the 80k area. dont know if its fact or not but im just passing along information

Z28_DAD

iTrader: (18)

i just did my oil pan gasket over the summer. i also replaced the timing cover gasket and water pump gaskets when i did my cam

Tuffguy610

iTrader: (2)

z28 dad, was there a reason for doing all these gaskets, or was it just routine maintenance? Are you running just a cam with no heads? How are the results from doing your cam, and how hard was it to do?

Z28_DAD

iTrader: (18)

oil pan was leaking a VERY little bit. the other gaskets was just because i had it open and it was cheap enough. yes, cam only. results were pretty good, 372rwhp/383tq.
its a peice of cake, im actually doing it again

Tuffguy610

iTrader: (2)

Wow that sounds pretty cool, I would like to learn more about doing a cam. 372 rwhp is excellent! I am completely stock now except for loudmouth and a lid. As for the oil pan, it appears that the engine has to be dropped to do that because it is so damn close to the K-member.

Z28_DAD

iTrader: (18)

the k-member does need to be dropped from the motor, its pretty easy

LSWon00

iTrader: (3)

My friends 02 Z28 had a pan gasket leak at 14,000. I just changed the gasket on my 00 and it has 89K on it. Its luck of the draw most times your luckey though.

Tuffguy610

iTrader: (2)

Okay, do you need to drop the engine to do this pan gasket? It looks tight down there...

Z28_DAD

iTrader: (18)

nope, just the k-member

Tuffguy610

iTrader: (2)

yea the k member is bolted to the engine and is whats holding it up, correct?

Z28_DAD

iTrader: (18)

no, you have to unbolt the motor mounts and hold the engine up with a jack or jackstand

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (17)

Lunchtray...give me a call later if you want some advice/help with doing that kind of work on your car. Or keep searching on here. I remember reading a couple decent threads on working on the oil pan while the car was together...

Justin

Tuffguy610

iTrader: (2)

Yea Justin there's one problem, its so cold out that my eyes damn near freeze shut when I blink.... I gotta wait a few weeks before I even think about popping the hood. We'll catch up soon.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (17)

Tell me about it bro... I built a jeep for a buddy a few weekends ago. And Ive had a few small jobs to do out in the garage over the past couple days. Its horrible out there. I have so much I need to my car, and this cold is killing me.

Well whenever you wanna chat about your car just give me a buzz. Take it easy!

Justin

BLKWS.6

You may have a PCV system issue. My LT1 with 170K miles never seeped a drop. Neither has my LS1 at 78K.

5qts is LOW. I add 6qts. with the stock filter and some people do 6.5 if they auto X.

Tuffguy610

iTrader: (2)

Just replaced the PCV valve. Turns out that it had oil caked all over the input side of it. It had AC delco written on it, which makes me suspect that it was the original one. It still clicked when shaken, which according to my friend means that it was still operating correctly. I have been driving it around and I dont smell anything weird coming from my exhaust anymore (which used to happen whenever the engine saw anything over 3,000 rpms).