Oil leak inspection

BlackHawkGunner · **Posted:** Sun Jan 03, 2016 1:25 pm

Hello,
I've been working on doing my timing belt, installing ARP's, inspecting rockers, replacing ceramic glow plugs, and trying to find out where I'm losing oil from. It's been dripping oil at night for about 6+ months, and it lost a quart and a half of oil in 3,000 miles since last oil change. I've got the engine all torn down to he head right now just waiting on the the studs to arrive. But it's somewhere under the turbo charger, at least that side of the engine. I took the turbo off as well, I have new seals for those oil lines.

I can see that it is at least coming partly from the oil return grommet for the turbo, which i replaced about 3 months ago trying to figure this out, so I'm going to reinstall it with some RTv this time.

I'm still trying to figure out where oil is coming from that's above it.

There is also oil on the left engine mount. I though I read somewhere that the engine mounts are filled with fluid, so I'm not sure if its the mount leaking or still something else? The turbo oil return tube and bolts were dry so its not coming from their.

It also looks like maybe the rear crank seal might be leaking. Don't mind the puddle on the ground, I think that was just oil the dripped off after I pulled the valve cover, it's never dripped that bad.

It doesn't look like the oil cooler is leaking, but its hard to see on the bottom side of it. I was thinking of pulling the engine mount off to get a better look under the oil cooler, and to inspect the engine mount. I've got about month until I have to have it back up and running, but the sooner the better as always. Any ideas? Thanks.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Sun Jan 03, 2016 2:27 pm

I'd guess the oil cooler gasket is leaking.

flash7210 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 03, 2016 2:33 pm

The turbo oil drain pipe is a common source for oil leaks.
How did the turbo oil supply line look? Sometime it leaks too.
What about you turbo inlet hose? What condition is it in? Its common for it to develop a hole where it attaches to the turbo and sometimes oil will drip out of it.
I'm not too sure about oil cooler either.

Ignore the rear main seal leak for now. I thought I had a rear main leak until I fixed the turbo drain pipe leak. Then the oil leaks stopped.

Not all engine oil disappears by way of a leak.
In fact most of it leaves the engine by way of the crankcase vent on the top of the engine. It then coats the insides of you turbo inlet and boost hoses causing them to deteriorate.
If you fill the oil up all the way to the Full mark in the dipstick, its actually overfilled and the excess will leave the engine out the crankcase vent.

BlackHawkGunner · **Posted:** Sun Jan 03, 2016 5:18 pm

papaindigo wrote:

I'd guess the oil cooler gasket is leaking.

I guess I'll go ahead and pull the engine mount to get a better look at it.

flash7210 wrote:

The turbo oil drain pipe is a common source for oil leaks.
How did the turbo oil supply line look? Sometime it leaks too.
What about you turbo inlet hose? What condition is it in? Its common for it to develop a hole where it attaches to the turbo and sometimes oil will drip out of it.
I'm not too sure about oil cooler either.

Ignore the rear main seal leak for now. I thought I had a rear main leak until I fixed the turbo drain pipe leak. Then the oil leaks stopped.

Not all engine oil disappears by way of a leak.
In fact most of it leaves the engine by way of the crankcase vent on the top of the engine. It then coats the insides of you turbo inlet and boost hoses causing them to deteriorate.
If you fill the oil up all the way to the Full mark in the dipstick, its actually overfilled and the excess will leave the engine out the crankcase vent.

The top of the turbo was dry and the line looked fine as well.
I replace the inlet hose about a year ago, it still looked fine now.
I've had the jeep for about 16K miles and since my last oil change is when I've had the most oil lost, and there's always fresh oil drops on the ground over night, so that's why I was attributing it to the leak instead of the blow by.
I'm not sure if I have the newer oil resistant OEM turbo hoses but they look fine so far so I'm going to hold off on upgrading those.
I also tend to shoot for no higher than half of the dipstick when I check/add oil and always check it hot. Just my preference.

Since I'll be taking the motor mount off, anything in particular to look for to see if it needs replacement?
Thanks.

rankom · **Posted:** Sun Jan 03, 2016 6:16 pm

ok ,the oil on top of motor mount probably dripping from turbo snail , (excessive idle time , engine runs cold)( thermostat) replace leaky turbo return line seals , if you see oil again on top of motor mount, pull blow by hose outside ,just to check how much blow by gasses going back into turbo air intake side.

BlackHawkGunner · **Posted:** Mon Jan 04, 2016 12:18 am

rankom wrote:

ok ,the oil on top of motor mount probably dripping from turbo snail , (excessive idle time , engine runs cold)( thermostat) replace leaky turbo return line seals , if you see oil again on top of motor mount, pull blow by hose outside ,just to check how much blow by gasses going back into turbo air intake side.

Interesting idea. I didn't think to check that hose as I was taking it off. I wish there was a better way to connect to the front of the turbo, all the t-stat hoses are annoyingly in the way.
It's got a brand new t-stat though, but it does do frequent short trips with my wife.
And yes, those seals will be replaced.

Mike92104 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 04, 2016 2:40 am

I agree with the oil cooler gasket being the likely culprit. Since you'll have to remove the oil cooler anyway, I would suggest pulling it out to inspect it rather than pulling the engine mount. It also looks like the rubber bung in the turbo oil return bung is missing (unless you removed it). Get those 2 leaks taken care of, and then drive it around for a few days to see if that rear main is actually leaking.

JDaPP · **Posted:** Fri May 27, 2016 10:42 am

How big of a job is it to replace the oil cooler gasket? Is it a simple pull off put new gasket on or is it a major tear down? I tried searching and didn't see a tech write up on it.

Mountainman · **Posted:** Fri May 27, 2016 10:55 am

JDaPP wrote:

How big of a job is it to replace the oil cooler gasket? Is it a simple pull off put new gasket on or is it a major tear down? I tried searching and didn't see a tech write up on it.

I haven't tried to pull one when it's fully assembled, but it's a big metal plate with 4 (I think) rubber seals on it. it might be tricky to replace it without damaging it with everything else in place. I would first try to snug the bolts if I thought one was leaking, but oil in that area usually comes from the CCV hose, or turbo to airbox hose. I've had trouble getting those gaskets for anything less than highway robbery. Tried getting them out of the VM Specialist even, and they never came through, although they gladly charged me for them :furious:

Mike92104 · **Posted:** Fri May 27, 2016 4:40 pm

JDaPP wrote:

How big of a job is it to replace the oil cooler gasket? Is it a simple pull off put new gasket on or is it a major tear down? I tried searching and didn't see a tech write up on it.

The cooler itself is easy to remove, but I don't know off hand how much other stuff is in the way.

Here's the gasket:
http://www.idparts.com/oil-cooler-gaske ... -3216.html

Oil leak inspection

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