Oil Dipstick causing massive leak???

[rob21a48422]

OK, I was finishing up my first headgasket job last night and the oil dipstick wouldn't line up with the mounting hole on the turbo (it was lower and when I tried to raise it to meet up, it would "pop" out of the hole). So I just zip tied it to the wheel well. After I finished and started her up, I could hear dripping. I immediately shut her down and looked under the car and there was a waterfall of oil coming out. I KNOW I used the right gaskets and bolted the turbo oil pipes down. This happened at 4 am so I was too disgusted to mess with it and went home like a dog with it's tail between it's legs. I'm going back over today to investigate. Could the dipstick being at a slightly different angle than originally cause this??? It was coming from the passenger side of the engine bay. And yes, I do have an oil filter on there so it's not that. What other oil lines are there on the passenger side that I might have forgotten to hook up? Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[GrimJack]

No... this will cause a small leak at most.

Oil lines on that side are the turbo lines and the oil cooler lines. If it's blowing out a lot of oil, it's likely a high pressure line.

 

[ZFast300Z]

GrimJack, I agree completely. The oil dipstick is not under pressure and would cause a very small leak even if the dipstick wasn't inserted at all.

I wouldn't limit it to a high pressure line though. It's possible that the filter is double gasketed or missing the gasket all together. More then likely though I would go with one of the oil cooler lines not being hooked up, or hooked up properly. And not to sound like a ass or anything, but I know what 4am work days are like. Are you sure its oil and not possibly coolant or P/S fluid?

 

[Frank Rizzo]

It's the flanged oil return line where it meets the engine block.

After replacing all of my exhaust manifold studs with helicoils, I noticed my turbo oil line didn't line up exactly perfect.

 

[tlo86]

After replacing all of my exhaust manifold studs with helicoils

why all of them? go on a stripping spree?

 

[Frank Rizzo]

Bought the vehicle like that thank you very much.

 

[rob21a48422]

I haven't had a chance to get back to working on the car until now. I'm heading over there after I type this. I've spent a day thinking about it and the only thing I can think is that I mounted my turbo oil return lines up before mounting the turbo. This made getting the turbo in tricky and I think I might have loosened the bolts going to the block to get the turbo in and maybe forgot to tighten them back up. I HOPE this is it and I'm crossing my fingers. I don't remember unhooking any of the lines from the oil cooler but I did my teardown in December so it's possible. It definately is oil. I'm praying it was just a simple oversight from me. I must admit, a headgasket job was much more work than I previously thought on our cars. My black, bruised, and battered hands will testify to that. Thanks for the help guys. With a little luck another Supra will be on the road in a few hours.

 

[rob21a48422]

OK, I figured out the problem. Some jackass (the one typing right now) mounted up the oil return lines, then had to loosen them to mount the turbo but then forgot to re-tighten them. I was scared shitless for a while there. Had her running tonight. She ran rough so I checked the timing and it was off by a tooth on each cam. Fixed that and she ran like a champ afterward. Now the only problem is the throttle body is sucking air. I put a new gasket on it but it must have been a cheap one. Tomorrow I'm going to take the throttle body off and check the gasket out. Worst case scenaio I'll use the gasket with some silicone sealer. Without Supramania, doing the headgasket would have been something I wouldn't have dreamed of doing. This website saved me thousands. Thank god for SUPRAMANIA!!!!!!!!!!

 

[GrimJack]

LOL - I've done that. It's amazing how much oil you can pump out through a high pressure line that isn't tight in about 6 seconds flat!

 

[tlo86]

OK, I figured out the problem. Some jackass (the one typing right now) mounted up the oil return lines, then had to loosen them to mount the turbo but then forgot to re-tighten them. I was scared shitless for a while there. Had her running tonight. She ran rough so I checked the timing and it was off by a tooth on each cam. Fixed that and she ran like a champ afterward. Now the only problem is the throttle body is sucking air. I put a new gasket on it but it must have been a cheap one. Tomorrow I'm going to take the throttle body off and check the gasket out. Worst case scenaio I'll use the gasket with some silicone sealer. Without Supramania, doing the headgasket would have been something I wouldn't have dreamed of doing. This website saved me thousands. Thank god for SUPRAMANIA!!!!!!!!!!

wow i love the whole i forgot to do this thing Lol the two times i took my car in to have someone else do the work on it this happened... haven't taken it to a shop since then (since june of 05 Lol notice my join date)