mikelv
15+ Year Contributor
- 566
- 12
- Jun 17, 2006
-
Columbus,
Georgia
Ok,
This has put me in bit of a tiff...Hello to all with some advice.
The Question: My ultimate question is how much of a drop in oil pressure can you expect to see from a minor valve cover gasket leak?
The Actions: After doing some tuning one night....I underwent a second and third gear pull. Approx peak to 6400rpm. I went to park, noticed quite a bit of smoke and my heart fell into my stomach. I noticed it was quite a bit of oil burning from the manifold head shield. I noticed oil was splattered around, and dripping to the ground. Other than oil that had made contact with the hot displacement of the manifold...there seemed to be no evidence of anything...at the time, besides an oil pressure drop. Under the car though oil was leaking, Class III, meaning dripping. I parked the car, and drove no more. The next day, I took it to the dealer, due to the fact I have no place or even tools where I'm at to work on this problem.
The dealership is telling me they found nothing but a valve cover gasket having a minor leak....now I have normal oil pressure at normal operating speeds, but at idle, they oil pressure drops tremendously next to nothing. My first suspicion was that the oil dip stick was not properly seated, causing oil to splatter on to the heat shield...and on to the ground, under high acceleration. I still believe this. But still have a substantial loss of oil pressure.
Now it is difficult for me to throw out numbers, I only have an O.E. guage, but it's anywhere from 50% to 75% of the OE guage during normal operation, and approx 5- 10% during idle. Oil pressure was higher previous to my endavour.
I am suspect to see that there is more than meets they eye here, but nothing visible. I have limited mechanical facilities currently so.....that is the main reason I have not been able to check it myself. I plan to do so within the next day, I have coordinated for gagage space.
The dealership said they noticed nothing, the head gasket was fine, and the only leak they saw was a small leak on the valve cover. After four days of sitting, there was a small spot of oil under the car, (approx 4 square in.) on the driver side. This has never happened, so suspect an oil pan gasket? They added a dye, and I plan on checking the UV light against it to see what the hell is leaking.
All feed and return lines are fine, and everything seems to be ok visually.
What (if not all/any) engine oil leaks would cause such a loss of pressure? Major/ minor, or is this typical of any blown/ worn gasket?
Keep in mind, this is a well modified car, with quite low mileage.
1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
26,000 Org. Miles....
Any respectable response, or maybe some advice to what I'm missing here, or even questions to maybe help me out would be greatful. Thanks to all for the time and space.
Mike
This has put me in bit of a tiff...Hello to all with some advice.
The Question: My ultimate question is how much of a drop in oil pressure can you expect to see from a minor valve cover gasket leak?
The Actions: After doing some tuning one night....I underwent a second and third gear pull. Approx peak to 6400rpm. I went to park, noticed quite a bit of smoke and my heart fell into my stomach. I noticed it was quite a bit of oil burning from the manifold head shield. I noticed oil was splattered around, and dripping to the ground. Other than oil that had made contact with the hot displacement of the manifold...there seemed to be no evidence of anything...at the time, besides an oil pressure drop. Under the car though oil was leaking, Class III, meaning dripping. I parked the car, and drove no more. The next day, I took it to the dealer, due to the fact I have no place or even tools where I'm at to work on this problem.
The dealership is telling me they found nothing but a valve cover gasket having a minor leak....now I have normal oil pressure at normal operating speeds, but at idle, they oil pressure drops tremendously next to nothing. My first suspicion was that the oil dip stick was not properly seated, causing oil to splatter on to the heat shield...and on to the ground, under high acceleration. I still believe this. But still have a substantial loss of oil pressure.
Now it is difficult for me to throw out numbers, I only have an O.E. guage, but it's anywhere from 50% to 75% of the OE guage during normal operation, and approx 5- 10% during idle. Oil pressure was higher previous to my endavour.
I am suspect to see that there is more than meets they eye here, but nothing visible. I have limited mechanical facilities currently so.....that is the main reason I have not been able to check it myself. I plan to do so within the next day, I have coordinated for gagage space.
The dealership said they noticed nothing, the head gasket was fine, and the only leak they saw was a small leak on the valve cover. After four days of sitting, there was a small spot of oil under the car, (approx 4 square in.) on the driver side. This has never happened, so suspect an oil pan gasket? They added a dye, and I plan on checking the UV light against it to see what the hell is leaking.
All feed and return lines are fine, and everything seems to be ok visually.
What (if not all/any) engine oil leaks would cause such a loss of pressure? Major/ minor, or is this typical of any blown/ worn gasket?
Keep in mind, this is a well modified car, with quite low mileage.
1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
26,000 Org. Miles....
Any respectable response, or maybe some advice to what I'm missing here, or even questions to maybe help me out would be greatful. Thanks to all for the time and space.
Mike
