Valve covers full of oil?

CSEBug · Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 8:05 am Post subject: Valve covers full of oil?

Hey guys I finally had the buggy going on memorial weekend. It ran great all day until I got a flat and then on the way back to camp if started backfiring, sputtering until it finally quit running. We towed it back the rest of the way. I put a new distributor in, and its now running good again.

So I go to adjust the valves this morning and I pop the 1&2 side valve cover and a whole load of oil falls out. It continued to drain out of the head for 10 to 15 seconds and then stopped. This was a lot of of oil, not just a little stream. Had a mini niagara falls going on lol. I go open up the 3&4 side and the same thing happened.

I have pics I will post up but im at the shop now with no way to do it.

Its a 1600dp, I have no idea of the history of the engine. It was seized from sitting when I got it, but it broke loose easily, compression is still good. The only thing I did differently was install a large aux oil cooler. I checked the oil level and from sitting the level was above the full mark slightly, im guessing because it sat for over a month and some drained back from the cooler.

I have no idea where to begin, was hoping some of you guys could guide me into what could be wrong. Could this have done any damage? I had it running while I was setting the timing, and drove it around a little bit.

Brian · Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 9:00 am Post subject:

How long after it was running did you do the adjustment? And did the dipstick say there was too much oil? were you on level ground or was the front of the car elevated?
_________________
Wash your hands

'69 Bug
'68 Baja Truck
'71 Bug
'68 Camper

Only losers litter

CSEBug · Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 9:15 am Post subject:

I put the new distributor in earlier this week I had it running maybe 15 minutes at the most. I havent done the valve adjustment yet, I opened the covers and found this and havent progressed any farther.

It was on level ground, the dipstick was reading over FULL, but not much. Since I put on the new cooler Im not exactly sure how much oil it takes. I wound up adding some when we were driving.

I did pop off BOTH covers while up the mountains. I was checking to see if any of the valves were stuck trying to diagnose the problem while I was up there. They were normal. This problem occurred sometime between when I drove home that weekend and while it was sitting until early this week.

Brian · Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 11:14 am Post subject:

The oil filter and cooler were probably still draining back down into the case when you popped them off. I will do one side at a time and lift only that side to prevent anything from coming out.
_________________
Wash your hands

'69 Bug
'68 Baja Truck
'71 Bug
'68 Camper

Only losers litter

utahclaimjumper · Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 5:57 pm Post subject:

There has to be a reason why the oil is not running back thru the push rod tubes to the sump as designed. Are you getting a lot of "blowby" or crankcase pressure?>>>Dan

VWCOOL · Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 7:50 pm Post subject:

Oil... engine... 15 seconds... yeah, so what?

Brian · Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 11:53 pm Post subject:

Do you know if your pushrod tubes are 'windage'
but imo there is literally nothing wrong
_________________
Wash your hands

'69 Bug
'68 Baja Truck
'71 Bug
'68 Camper

Only losers litter

HERC · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:34 am Post subject:

how big is the cooler, how much line, where's the location,lets see a pic.
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Herc

ORANGECRUSHer · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 11:29 am Post subject:

sounds like you had too much oil to start with.

Why would oil from a cooler drain into just the valve covers unless it drained back through vents on them which doesn't make sense either.

What were you doing right before you got the flat tire. Perhaps you were in some manuever that threw oil outwards and it never had a chance to drain.

I kinda had the same thing where I over reved mine and for a short bit. After that engine leaked like a siv out the covers and that's with brand new prepped gaskets.(forgot to mention I was doing a spin out in gravel)

I would be real careful measuring out how much oil I'm putting in having calculated what the pan should hold + about a 1/2-1 Qt for the radiator. Then try replicating the driving you were doing and see if it happens again.

I don't know what you did to clean up the engine, but I could imagine if it was locked up(rust) it's possible it had just enough debris that might have been missed collected in the push tubes and you oil couldn't drain as fast as it was pumping. It might have over heated a bit due to that and caused the hard starting you talked about.
?
weird
_________________
Brian H.
I may not know everything,but I will try to help if I can
OrangeCrushER Berrien Warrior 2.4L Quad4
LAZY MARY 1970 Baja ~~1835cc~~

dustymojave · Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 1:23 am Post subject:

Another possibility is that the oil is diluted with gasoline from the carb(s) overflowing float bowl.

Or if the dipstick is the wrong dipstick, or was not pushed in all the way.
_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.


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