How to stop these oil leaks...

[AL92]

First my oil pan was leaking like crazy but stopped that with mits rtv after trying permatex ultra gray and first a topline gasket put in dry.But still have annoying leak at oil return.I used crush washers on the oil return, a thin layer of mits rtv on the new oil pan to oil return gasket and even used some permatex sealant on the threads on my forced performance oil return line. Still leaking!

Also have leak at oil pan main drain plug and at a few plugs in my oil filter housing.
What works to stop those leaks. I seem to not be having very good luck with permatex sealer or teflon tape.It seems the teflon tape just dissolves away.

I am sick to death of these little oil leaks. Apprectiate any tips or tricks to stop them.
Getting embarrassed to have my driveway always covered in oil spots.

 

[toybreaker]

Oil leaks can really drive you nuts!

I don't really use teflon tape on automotive fittings anymore. I will occaisonally use the teflon paste, but only on corroded coolant fittings.

A really good sealer is called "the right stuff", made by permatex. It's available in a culking gun style cartridge, and also cheese-whiz cans. I would strongly recommend the caulking gun tubes. You can just leave a little nubb of the product sticking out of the tip, and the next time you need to use it, just pull the hardened nubby out, and you're good to go. It may seem a little pricey, compared to the little squeeze tubes, but one tube will last you a long time, ( even with a dsm to keep sealed up. )

The oil drain line can be a little hard to seal. I like a little rtv on the threads of the bolts that hold the oil line to the pan. There's 'sposed to be some 6mm crush washers on the bottom drain line bolts, many times they are omitted, and the result is a seep...If you like, you can put a little rtv on the hardware where it meets the flange to assure yourself of a leakfree drain tube at the pan.

Edit; My apologies, I just reread your post, It sounds like you did it right...maybe the oil pan threads still had oil in them...you can use brake clean on a q-tip to get them clean and dry, and try again.

On the ends that have a banjo fitting and copper washers, I like to use a very low strength loctite. The purple grade is awesome at assuring/retaining a seal on copper washers, without creating any trauma if you need to dissassemble the joint for service at a later date. Those copper washers are generally a one time use item. Just put a drop on each side of the washer and wipe it around with your finger. It doesn't take much at all, and you don't want any to go inside the line. Again that's the purple, low strength I would most definately not use anything stronger on the washers/bolts.

Assemble promptly, and torque to the correct spec.

Please inspect the feed hole that's drilled sideways thru the banjo bolt. If it's oblongish, please don't reuse it. My experience has been that most of the leaks at the banjo fittings are from reused washers/overtightened fittings. People see it leaking there, and their first reaction is to overtighten the bolt... ...Once the bolt has been overtightened/stretched it's a disaster waiting for a time to happen....

For the allen plugs on the oil filter housing, purple will work there, or you can step up to the blue, medium strength. These are just plugs for passages that were drilled during the manufacturing process, and generally don't need to be removed for any reason. (An exception is if you want to run an oil temp gauge, so that's why I dont like the red, or green grades there, as you may want to remove them at a later date)

The drain plug on the pan should get a new washer every now and then, but no other action should be required. Make sure there's no burrs/damage on the pan or underside of the bolt, and you should be fine. Many times, people who get leaks at the drain plug are overtightening the bolt, or are re-using spranglified washers. There's no pressure there, so it really doesn't need to be smoking tight....after awhile the pan will get distorted around the threads from being overtightened, and may require a new copper washer every time.

One thing I always like to do on a motor that likes to mark it's territory is to clean the pcv valve. If it's gooeified, it can cause some funky oil leaks from strange places...

As far as the oil in the driveway goes, grind some kitty litter into it to get up the liquid, sweep it up, and then shoot the residue with carb clean, and wipe with a rag.

Or, you could always park in front of the neighbors house...

Good luck, and let us know what works for you.