Oil problem

[cmhaah06]

I was coming home from my latest wheeling trip. I was traveling about 65 mph when I noticed a smell of smoke. I initially thought I forgot to unlock my hubs, but after thinking about it, I remembered unlocking them as I aired up my tires. I began seeing smoke come into the cab of the truck. Uh-oh..... I got to a shopping center where I was meeting the wife and kids for pizza. I noticed a huge plume of smoke following me... no oil pressure reading on the gauge, however, no overheating or new noises coming from the truck either. I parked it and got out..... oil coming from the under the truck, not just a little either. I opened the hood and noticed oil everywhere on the drivers side of the engine, all of it. I checked the dipstick and it read empty. I rebuilt the top end of the engine new/rebuilt heads and all related/associated gaskets about a year and a half ago. There doesn't seem to be any obvious signs of a failure. I did notice a small hose that connects the valve cover to the upper intake was loose but I don't think that would cause oil to blow everywhere, would it? I did have a small leak, for the last two years, coming from the rear main seal. But if the seal blew, oil would have been on both sides of the engine right?

 

[natenkiki2004]

My first (albeit inexperienced) thought would be something happened to your oil pressure sender. Is it still in place? It's on the drivers side behind the power steering pump. If it rattled out, it would spray all over the drivers side and you would see no pressure on the gauge.

Obviously, it had to be oil under pressure but I'm not sure what else would do that. Lower intake manifold gasket maybe? There's probably not anywhere near enough oil pressure to blow that seal out though.

 

[vq5speed]

I would probably put the oil back in. Clean up all the oil the best I could. Star the engine and watch to see where the oil is leaking from. If its splattered on top I would suspect valve cover but to be sure you need to see it come out.

 

[cmhaah06]

Would there be enough pressure at either the oil pressure switch or the oil level switch to cause the oil to squirt out like that? Both are still in place. However, the oil level switch is all gunked up and nasty looking.

 

[larrydd999]

I had a similar problem many years ago with an old Ford Fairlane 500. The rear main seal failed with the exact result you described. My '92 XLT had a leaky rear main seal for months that gradually got worse - had to have the engine pulled to fix. It also caused a minor smoke screen on hot days, especially when slowing down after running on the highway. Having said that, the oil pressure switch is under pressure (of course). I'd do as suggested previously - refill with oil and try to find the leak. Hopefully it will be minor. Let us know what you find.

 

[vq5speed]

If that much oil came out I don't think it would be hard to find the leak. But your going to have to put more oil back in and run the engine have someone rev it while you inspect for the leak. That's what i would do.

 

[cmhaah06]

Well, I put oil in the truck, let it warm up and oil started coming out of the oil pressure switch. I replaced the switch and everything works fine. No new engine noises or other issues to report. Thank God it was a cheap easy fix.

 

[natenkiki2004]

Glad it was something simple, thanks for reporting back!