To death valley and back...

[ivwshane]

So last week I took the longest trip I've ever taken with my bus. 1000 mile round trip to death valley in California. I must say my bus did better than expected.

On the way there I went this way:
https://goo.gl/maps/tUtYDF6PNcM2

I averaged 70mph with oil temps around 230 up until I reached Tehachapi pass where I still managed to never fall below 50mph and oil temp @240. All was good until I got to 190 (around pinto peak). It was a steep incline and my speed dropped to 30-45mph and my oil temp went to a max of 265. I stopped at the peak to let the bus cool down a little, my friend took this pic as I was coming up.

It was a 10 hour drive and my ass hurt (I need to re pad the seat) but the bus did good. I checked the oil and I discovered that I had a bigger leak then I normally do. I had lost about a half a quart of oil and underneath the engine was an oil spot about the size of a CD, normally during normal driving I see about a nickel sized spot.

The drive on the way back was a little easier with the hardest part being the trip back over 190. However my speeds never dropped below 40mph and my oil temp never went above 240.

When I made it home I checked the oil again and again I had lost about a half a quart.

So I'm happy that my bus made the trip to and back but now I'm concerned about the engine itself. I don't want to drive the bus again until I diagnose the problem.

So...

What are my first steps? What concerns should I have? Should I do my normal driving with it and see if the leak appears again?

Here are some pics, although I'm not sure how helpful they will be. The bottom of my engine has never looked great but it is more oily than normal.

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77 westy 2.0 FI
69 ghia coup 1600dp
70 single cab

[timvw7476]

That is one long,pronounced skid mark on the drive way-
Not wanting to encourage anything crazy, but it would seem
that the center nut, the do not torque past 9 foot pounds nut,
needs to be loosened & a screen gasket kit installed, you do it
at oil change time for obvious reason, all your oil needs to be
drained to drop/reseal that sump plate.

[ivwshane]

[timvw7476]

the air flow under the case does make diagnosing difficult, some others
will come along & mention checking the oil pressure switch up above
the filter, I do see some oil up high at the big slotted screw for one
of the oil relief/bypass plungers, if you're lucky it's the oil pressure
switch failing, or simply loose.

[blue77bay]

check carefully you op switch and the dipstick bellows,then mbee you oil cooler seals
_________________
I like hammers. Lots of hammers. Hammers and me go way back.
A large hammer collection is like an instant problem solver
Mark tucker wrote:,wack off as needed

[Wildthings]

What weight oil are you running? From your temps I would guess a 20w50. If I was seeing 265°F oil temps I would be wanting to run a synthetic oil.

Clean your engine well so you can better determine where the oil is first showing up. Then run the engine at a high idle to see where the oil first appears. Maybe drive up onto some blocks or ramps to make it easier to move around underneath.

Removing the tins from below the pushrod tubes might help in determining where the oil is coming from.

As other said the oil pressure switch is a likely suspect for at least some of the oily mess you are seeing.

[Wasted youth]

Looks like you had a pretty solid run in your bus! I-5 on the west side can be hairy with interstate trucking and the normal strong gusts of wind. If you maintained those speeds over through Tehachapi, then I'd say you've got some real decent compression. I skimmed through a lot of your threads, and based on your variety of topics, I bet your bus is in pretty great condition.

How was the desert? We finally had a great winter, so I would think the desert was looking great right now.

When I had an oil leak on my 1977 GD engine, it turned out to be the oil cooler. It had symptoms similar to yours, but we all know it could be coming from many places. I was able to remove my cooler and test it:

[Abscate]

OP - get out the pressure washer and get all the oil off the bottom of the engine, and as much up top as you can, from underneath.

Then start tracking the oil. windage will spray oil all over - i don't like that you have oil near the FMS as thats an engine out to fix, but that does look suspicious like point of origin. That would fit usage, too.
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.ssS!

[jtauxe]

[richparker]

Sounds like a fun trip, thanks for sharing.

Sorry about your oil leak but at least you made it home...
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’71 Westy build
Adventure thread
’65 Deluxe Build
’63 Deluxe Build

[Abscate]

[catahoula lou]

My parents made a similar trip from Los Angeles to Death Valley in their 1955 (1956?) bug, before I was born in 1957. They went up past Searles Lake to the Panamint Springs turn-off, then went east to Death Valley.

Along the way, while going up the grade eastward from the Panamint Springs turn-off, they took the following photo on the old highway alignment:

May 2015, my wife and I drove to a nearby location on the new highway alignment and I hiked down to get a piece of the original asphalt. The following is what the same location looked like at that time and the subsequent is a map showing location of the bug:

BTW, hard to beat the early-morning desert environment....

Best,

Thom
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1 great wife
2 Catahoula Leopard Dogs (Mahogany Star and Spartan) - RIP Lucy, Braveheart, & Dusty!
1 1959 mango green Ragtop Bug (the "Mango")
1 1958 pantina red Lowlight Ghia (the "Chili Pepper")

Still looking for:
(1) My Dad's 1955 356 (he raced it amateur-class at Riverside and other courses during 1950s),
(2) My parent's black 1955 hardtop bug (CA license plate FWC 201 or FWG 201), and
(3) My parent's agave green 1957 ragtop bug (CA license plate LFK 734).

[ivwshane]

Thanks for the help guys. I'll clean the mess I have now and run the engine again and report back my findings.


The wind definitely made driving a challenge but thanks to my new tires and shocks it was entirely manageable.
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77 westy 2.0 FI
69 ghia coup 1600dp
70 single cab

[Randy in Maine]

The only thing I have to add is to suggest looking into these to better keep the cooling air actually inside. Replace the spark plug boots with them. Use the 5th one at the oil pressure switch. Tie rod boots for $10.

http://www.coolcruisers.com/tierodbootfj.html

[ivwshane]

Just in case it makes a difference, I use synthetic 15-50 mobile 1 oil.
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77 westy 2.0 FI
69 ghia coup 1600dp
70 single cab

[Wildthings]

[ivwshane]

[Randy in Maine]

Do you have this thing timed to about 28º BTDC at around 3500 with the vacuum hoses off?

Sometimes retarded timing will raise the oil temps.

[Abscate]

Im going to back off my paranoia about Front main seal (FMS) and point to the oil cooler or sender as culprit. I hope thats the case. Do good karmic work.
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.ssS!

[ivwshane]