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GWTWTLW
Samba Member
Joined: April 22, 2008
Posts: 2174
Location: Portland, OR
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 Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2022 7:20 pm Post subject: Oil coming from dipstick? |
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I recently noticed that My van is marking her territory with oil when I park. The only place I see oil is on the ledge behind the license plate. It has to be coming from the dipstick but I’ve never seen it dripping out but there is plenty of oil dripping down from there. I keep the oil at the low mark and my OP is generally about 35 psi after warmup. I would think it would happen at startup when the pressure is 60-70 psi bu it can start it let it warm up, rev it and no drip.
Do I just need to buy a new dipstick and maybe the tube or is this a sign of a bigger problem?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Pete
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89 Syncro Westy - GW 2.5, now with a double knob job
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Jeffrey Lee
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Joined: February 04, 2014
Posts: 1488
Location: Wisconsin
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| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2022 7:48 pm Post subject: Re: Oil coming from dipstick? |
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Oil from the dipstick tube generally suggests excessive blowby—compression gases leaking past the piston rings to overpressurize the crankcase. It suggests a worn out engine, so you'll want to confirm this.
Clean up the leaked oil, then, if you suspect the leaks are happening on cold start up, have a friend start the van while you watch. If the dipstick is indeed the source, or elsewhere, you'll know how to proceed.
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GWTWTLW
Samba Member
Joined: April 22, 2008
Posts: 2174
Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2022 8:55 pm Post subject: Re: Oil coming from dipstick? |
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| Jeffrey Lee wrote: |
Oil from the dipstick tube generally suggests excessive blowby—compression gases leaking past the piston rings to overpressurize the crankcase. It suggests a worn out engine, so you'll want to confirm this.
Clean up the leaked oil, then, if you suspect the leaks are happening on cold start up, have a friend start the van while you watch. If the dipstick is indeed the source, or elsewhere, you'll know how to proceed. |
That’s what I was afraid of. Would over pressurization show up as high oil pressure though?
It’s not happening at cold startup though…
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Wildthings
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Joined: March 13, 2005
Posts: 50352
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| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2022 10:59 pm Post subject: Re: Oil coming from dipstick? |
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| A poorly functioning crankcase ventilation system will cause oil to be blow out of the dipstick tube as well. Make sure that no part of yours is clogged. |
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GWTWTLW
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Joined: April 22, 2008
Posts: 2174
Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2022 12:41 am Post subject: Re: Oil coming from dipstick? |
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| Wildthings wrote: |
| A poorly functioning crankcase ventilation system will cause oil to be blow out of the dipstick tube as well. Make sure that no part of yours is clogged. |
Thanks! Looking at one of your responses on a related thread, it sounds like only the hose is important?
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Wildthings
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Joined: March 13, 2005
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| Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2022 2:46 am Post subject: Re: Oil coming from dipstick? |
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| GWTWTLW wrote: |
| Wildthings wrote: |
| A poorly functioning crankcase ventilation system will cause oil to be blow out of the dipstick tube as well. Make sure that no part of yours is clogged. |
Thanks! Looking at one of your responses on a related thread, it sounds like only the hose is important? |
The hose can collapse and/or maybe clog, the orifice can clog, and the tower has several failure modes. If the tower fails so that you can blow freely through it you are fine, however it can fail so you can't blow through it which will cause high crankcase pressure. |
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Abscate
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Joined: October 05, 2014
Posts: 22670
Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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| Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2022 3:24 am Post subject: Re: Oil coming from dipstick? |
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| GWTWTLW wrote: |
| Jeffrey Lee wrote: |
Oil from the dipstick tube generally suggests excessive blowby—compression gases leaking past the piston rings to overpressurize the crankcase. It suggests a worn out engine, so you'll want to confirm this.
Clean up the leaked oil, then, if you suspect the leaks are happening on cold start up, have a friend start the van while you watch. If the dipstick is indeed the source, or elsewhere, you'll know how to proceed. |
That’s what I was afraid of. Would over pressurization show up as high oil pressure though?
It’s not happening at cold startup though… |
No.
Overpressure refers to crank case air pressure, not oil pressure. Generally a worn engine will have lower oil pressure than a new one.
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jlrftype7
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Joined: July 24, 2018
Posts: 3582
Location: Chicago
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| Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2022 6:11 am Post subject: Re: Oil coming from dipstick? |
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| GWTWTLW wrote: |
| Wildthings wrote: |
| A poorly functioning crankcase ventilation system will cause oil to be blow out of the dipstick tube as well. Make sure that no part of yours is clogged. |
Thanks! Looking at one of your responses on a related thread, it sounds like only the hose is important? |
To add to what Wildthings was posting about the Tower Breather assembly, ours was so clogged that the excessive Crankcase pressure was forcing out of seals like the Push Rod Tube seals after the engine had been running for just a few minutes. Luckily, the Vanagon wasn't on the road just yet after we had recently bought it, just in the rebuilding stage at my work... 
Marked its spot in the parking lot each time I moved it. 
The oil came in a stream, accompanied by a harsh squeal of the pressure being released with it. Literally was pissing oil on each shut down of the engine....
I should have taken a Video of it while the system was still in such bad shape.
New Breather Tower from GoWesty, along with the sealing O-ring for the bottom of it, and a fresh hose as well. That was the end of that.
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GWTWTLW
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Joined: April 22, 2008
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Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2022 4:28 pm Post subject: Re: Oil coming from dipstick? |
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Sure enough, the hose is pretty collapsed. I’ll be there running down to Napa for some heater hose and give the tower a good cleaning as well. That probably explains my crappy/high idle as well from what I read.
Thanks for the feedback!
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Jeffrey Lee
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Joined: February 04, 2014
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Location: Wisconsin
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| Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2022 6:31 pm Post subject: Re: Oil coming from dipstick? |
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| GWTWTLW wrote: |
| I’ll be there running down to Napa for some heater hose ... |
FWIW, I once used heater hose to fabricate a valve-cover breather hose (a PCV), and within several days the new hose was 'sweating' oil. Apparently, even the oil vapor was enough to deteriorate the rubber used for such hose.
I replaced it with virtually identical hose but made for PCV use (evidently a different rubber compound), and it's been fine for years.
EDIT TO ADD: Look for something made of Nitrile rubber, not the EPDM typically used for heater hoses. Not sure what size you need for your application, but here's an example:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/dac-80369
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Last edited by Jeffrey Lee on Tue Sep 27, 2022 6:43 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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vanis13
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Joined: August 15, 2010
Posts: 3100
Location: ABQ NM USA.... Except when not
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| Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2022 6:43 pm Post subject: Re: Oil coming from dipstick? |
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| GWTWTLW wrote: |
Sure enough, the hose is pretty collapsed. I’ll be there running down to Napa for some heater hose and give the tower a good cleaning as well. That probably explains my crappy/high idle as well from what I read.
Thanks for the feedback! |
likely the rubber valve inside the tower is deteriorated - not an issue, just remove all of it. but what can cause an oil vapor leak and thus dirty tower/surrounding are is the atmospheric relief hole under the top tower cap. cap it off someway to seal it and to also seal the vacuum leak it causes when the valve deteriorates. I melted the plastic around the hole with a lighter and pushed some inside/around then sealed with water as I was cleaning it.
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Wildthings
Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2005
Posts: 50352
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| Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2022 7:24 pm Post subject: Re: Oil coming from dipstick? |
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| Jeffrey Lee wrote: |
| GWTWTLW wrote: |
| I’ll be there running down to Napa for some heater hose ... |
FWIW, I once used heater hose to fabricate a valve-cover breather hose (a PCV), and within several days the new hose was 'sweating' oil. Apparently, even the oil vapor was enough to deteriorate the rubber used for such hose.
I replaced it with virtually identical hose but made for PCV use (evidently a different rubber compound), and it's been fine for years.
EDIT TO ADD: Look for something made of Nitrile rubber, not the EPDM typically used for heater hoses. Not sure what size you need for your application, but here's an example:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/dac-80369 |
30R7 fuel/PCV hose will do fine though it can be hard to fine in a large enough size. |
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