oil blowing out dipstick

[Fishtopher]

I've got oil blowing out my dipstick. It has a shitty aftermarket dipstick that doesn't provide a seal. Also I've got a few teaspoons of oil in my air box from the PCV. Z22e motor if that makes a difference.

 

Possible causes

PCV valve is blocked

Replace pcv

Blowby at the piston rings

Check compression

Vague mistery oil filter problem I've heard about

Change oil filter

Oil overfilled

Oil change with correct amount of oil

 

Any other reason oil would blow out my dipstick?

Also this is just one of potentially 2 oil leaks any recommendations on a stop leak product? Or is that stuff really not recommended?

[ggzilla]

Not recommended

 

You don't have an oil leak - but rather oil blowing out the dipstick. Proceed with your troubleshooting that you listed.

[Fishtopher]

Thanks ggzilla

I'll post up how it all turns out tomorrow

[datzenmike]

Get the proper dip stick. There are as many as there are different oil pans. Chance oil and add the proper amount and see where the oil come up to on the stick. That fixes that problem.

 

The PCV is only a small vacuum leak into the intake to draw fumes from the crank case. At highway speeds and under load the vacuum is much less than idle and blow-by from worn rings easily overpowers it and fumes reverse direction and blow out the valve cover pipe to the air filter carrying oil droplets and fog with it.

[Fishtopher]

Changed the oil and filter and replaced the PCV, (the old one looked fine). There is oil everywhere under the air box, and a few of the vacuum hoses were broken or cracked, I fixed what I could, but need to replace them all very soon. I didn't get a chance to drive the truck enough to see if oil was still coming out the dipstick.tomorrow I'll check the compression.

[datzenmike]

Oil fog and spray inside the engine is normal and usually just collects on surfaces and drips into the pan. Excessive volume of blow by gasses will push out the valve cover vent hose and carry the oil fog with it. There's no easy cure for this.

[ggzilla]

What did the compression test reveal? Did the numbers jump up in the wet test?

[Fishtopher]

I didn't even, bother with the wet test because all of the cylinders compressed between 145-150 psi well within 80% of 171psi. I drove the truck around town and so far it seems to have stopped squirting oil out, I need to buy a stock dipstick for this thing, or at least make a rubber gasket for the dipstick.

 

I let my friend borrow the truck, and he let another friend borrow it, and it turns out the second friend had put some oil in the truck, so I'm banking on the problem being overfill of oil.

 

When I'm driving the truck at highway speed down a hill and then let off the gas I get a ploom of smoke come in through the firewall. (Basically any time I have high revs and off the throttle) I've never figured out what it is, I thought that maybe it was this oil out the dipstick problem and I just didn't know I've had it so long, but with good compression I don't know.

 

BTW my engine, front and back but mostly driverside, and my differential were covered in caked on burnt on oil, how would oil out a dipstick get to the front of the engine? I must have a second leak somewhere.

[datzenmike]

Intake valve guide seals worn out or split will allow too much oil down them. On deceleration the intake vacuum is very high and will pull oil down. It will also suck oil up past worn oil control rings too.

[hang_510]

when i had a piston fail (bad rings) it blew the dipstick out

[Fishtopher]

Oil Control rings being the ones around the piston correct??

 

I test for leaking valve guides with a vacuum gauge??  When I get a hold of one I'll post what I find.

 

Is my truck in eminent danger of nuking itself? Should I park it until I sort everything out?

[ggzilla]

Oil Control rings are the bottom ring around the piston.

 

Test for leaking valve stem seals by observation and verify by visual inspection. Observed symptoms are smoking on starting and smoking on deceleration. It can be bad enough to smoke even if the vacuum is good.

[Trophy24]

I have seen spark plugs with oil deposits on one side from leaking valve guide seals. The oil consumption rate in this example was 1 quart every 1k miles. Sounds like you are well above that point. This may not apply when there are plumes of smoke involved.

We test for bad rings -blow by- with a vacuum/pressure gauge in the valve cover vent. You can pick one up at Harbor Freight for around $10. If you build over 3 psi at idle with PCV hose pinched off plan on a rebuild soon.