Hey Guys, I broke in my rebuilt motor a while back and took it back out of the car. It’s on the engine stand. I had a leak from the oil pan gasket and decided to put a Felpro one piece gasket in while on the stand. I drained the oil and later the next day flipped it over. About a week later I changed the gasket. When I took the pan off I noticed oil in the cup of some of the pistons but didn’t give it much thought. After a couple days I flipped it back over. As I started turning the motor upright, oil came out of the open spark plug hole of cyl #2. I am not a mechanic but can spin a wrench, but can’t figure out how or why this happened. I don’t think it should have done that. Is it something that I need to worry about ? Can oil seep through the rings while upside down for a couple days, accumulate in the chamber? It was about ½ a cups worth give or take. What should I look for? The motor ran great when fired up for the 1st time. It ran for about 20 minutes and I had oil additives and Rotella in the motor. Everything looked and sounded great when we took it back out of the car. Thanks….

THis is only if I think I'm understanding your post right....If you had oil get into the backside of the piston from flipping the motor over, you no doubt got some on the piston skirts. Since a ring is not a complete seal, if it sits there long enough, oil will work it's way past the rings and into the cylinder. I think you have zero to worry about.

Yes oil can seep throughthe rings. If you're worried, I'd do a leak down test. You can do the leak down while the engine is on the stand also.

Rings are a dynamic seal, not a static seal. So, yes they would allow oil to seep past when stationary.

1/2 a cup is a bunch. You sure? How does that piston look from the bottom side? Pistons break sometimes.

What did the plugs look like?

Oil can enter the chamber via the intake port and gasket as well. I would remove the pushrods and pressurize the intake to about 10psi with a regulator to test for leakage. A guy on this forum invented this test, his name is Ray and I call it Ray's test.

While I had the pushrods loose I would inject air at 150 psi into the cyl to hear if the piston was cracked or something. This is a cheapo quickee leakdown that tells you all you need to know.

If you pass these tests and the plugs look ok I wouldn't get too bent up about it.

Thanks guys..yeah its been sitting upside down for a week or so till I put in the gasket. It just baffled me that there was still oil in there after I drained the pan and the filter was off. It obviously was in there. Dont want to sound too stupid but how do you do a leakdown test?

Rings are a dynamic seal, not a static seal. So, yes they would allow oil to seep past when stationary.

1/2 a cup is a bunch. You sure? How does that piston look from the bottom side? Pistons break sometimes.

What did the plugs look like?

Oil can enter the chamber via the intake port and gasket as well. I would remove the pushrods and pressurize the intake to about 10psi with a regulator to test for leakage. A guy on this forum invented this test, his name is Ray and I call it Ray's test.

While I had the pushrods loose I would inject air at 150 psi into the cyl to hear if the piston was cracked or something. This is a cheapo quickee leakdown that tells you all you need to know.

If you pass these tests and the plugs look ok I wouldn't get too bent up about it.

Tim, My plugs were burning lean..a little too lean. when I took them out after the breakin. They were dry as a bone. I had about an 8" puddle so I am not sure how much that was. It seemed to be alot.

My neighbor is bringing a lighted bore scope to look inside this week sometime. I just hate that feeling in my gut that something went wrong. I'm hoping not. But if it did I want to fix it before it drops into a freshly painted car. I dont want to do it twice id I can prevent that.

Thanks

I don't think you have a problem. But your engine is on the stand and now's the best time to be sure.

The intake deal, I have trouble visualizing a way for oil to do this upside down on a stand. Any oil in the vee should go into the valve covers or on the bottom of the intake itself. But I would test it all the same while it's on the stand. The 10 psi is what I use based on figgering the intake is good for 20"HG manifold vac, and that is a differential of 10psi to atmospheric. You could go less and still find a leak.

The cheapo quickee leakdown, just take your compression tester and remove the schraeder valve at the end and hook your compressor into it. Turn the comp off so you can hear. If there's a problem it will tell you. A little light blowing is normal. Beware when you pressurize the cyl it will rotate the crank unless you have locked it down in some manner.

Tim, Is that Swagelock fitting on the water bypass?

yessir. Parker actually, a leetle cheaper. One line on each side. My intake has a partitioned stat housing so it is actually completely divided until it joins in the outlet. I have a buddy that owns an instrumentation service company, I got these 2 fleet tees from him. He tried to give them to me when I told him they were for the wolf, but I didn't want to take food out of his family's mouth and gave him a 20. Those fleet fittings are high dollar items. I run a jacket water temp gauge on each bank at the fleet tee where my jumper comes to the front, and additionally 2 temperature tattletales below the stat housing on the front of the intake. Yeah, I can bend stainless tubing and even make it look good if I want to. At work I'm too narrow minded on making contraptions earn their living and don't get too consumed with appearances:D

yessir. Parker actually, a leetle cheaper. One line on each side. My intake has a partitioned stat housing so it is actually completely divided until it joins in the outlet. I have a buddy that owns an instrumentation service company, I got these 2 fleet tees from him. He tried to give them to me when I told him they were for the wolf, but I didn't want to take food out of his family's mouth and gave him a 20. Those fleet fittings are high dollar items. I run a jacket water temp gauge on each bank at the fleet tee where my jumper comes to the front, and additionally 2 temperature tattletales below the stat housing on the front of the intake. Yeah, I can bend stainless tubing and even make it look good if I want to. At work I'm too narrow minded on making contraptions earn their living and don't get too consumed with appearances:D

I got the bender but ran out of 316. Guess I have to visit the plant boys. I recently plumbed in the airgap with rear to thermostat hi temp blue hoses and AN fittings, Now motor runs a lot cooler, I have trouble getting temp above 160° in cold weather , have to use my cardboard, like the old days.

Doesnt look good..I peeked best I can at the piston through the plug hole and I can see a line on the dome. Sure looks like a crack. Waiting for the scope but I'm gonna rip it apart to see. Funny its not on the same cylinder...That sucks bigtime. I looked with the borescope months ago when it was taken out and all the cylinders/pistons/valves looked good. I had checked for p/v clearance. Oh well I guess I am going to have to take it apart and see whats what. Not a good way to start the new year huh ? Oh well I guess better now on the stand then in the car.

Geeez...I couldnt sit thinking about it. I got a piece of bailing wire in there and ran it over what I thought was a crack. It cleaned off. Dont know what it was but wasnt a crack. Feel 10% better but still gonna tear it apart to be sure.

Dude,you don't have symptoms yet to tear it down. Do the cheapo quickee leakdown. Take the pan back off, I pull em all the time on the stand with oil in em. Just get your knee up under it while you do the last 2 bolts, piece o cake. I'm sorry if I scared you saying that pistons crack.

Don't panic yet.:confused:

Hey Tim,
Yeah I'm gonna do everything I can not to. I have a buddy coming over this week sometime to help me check it out. I will ask him to bring the stuff needed to do a leak down test on the motor. I think we're gonna rig it up and run it outside the car too if possible. Thanks for yout help !

Gary

ok,think about this.a buddy of mine managed to lay his dump truck on its side while trying to dump a load of dirt.fell on the drivers side.it stayed that way overnite and he put it back on its wheels with a backhoe the next day.we had to take the injectors out on the drivers side and crank it over with a pullbar by hand to pump the oil out of the cylinders.tried with the starter and it was locked up.bottom line is your engine is in the same condition as it was before you took it out.dumptruck ran fine after we got oil out and still runs fine a year later.and that much oil got past the rings in just 24 hours.your engine is fine.

Is it possible that oil puddle was from a breather and it just looked like it came out of #2 cyl when you set it back right side up? Is the pan back on it? I was assuming it was in my previous post.

Thanks for the story. I'm thinking more posative. I'm gonna set this motor up and run it on a test stand, eventually, before I drop it in the car. Thanks to everyone..

Is it possible that oil puddle was from a breather and it just looked like it came out of #2 cyl when you set it back right side up? Is the pan back on it? I was assuming it was in my previous post.

No..I wish,, it definetly came out the cyl plug hole. I'm gonna do that leakdown test and check inside with a lit borescope. If all looks good I'm just gonna get it running on a stand.

The pan is on but I can take it off easily if needed. I believe these new Felpro 1 pc gaskets are reusable to a point

VERY REUSEABLE. Put a little silicone on the block side at the 4 places where it does the U at each end.

Running on a stand, now your talkin FUN. I was playing with my 283 on one of my runnin stands this morning, the little **** was cold:D