Ok, Im fed up with my freaking oil leak on my engine. Its where the oil pressure regulator is supposed to go on the rear plate. The previous owner filled the hole with JB Weld or some crap which didnt seal it well enough, and the damn thing still leaks all the time. Im just getting tired of needing to dump oil in the beast, and was thinking that I could just dremel the hell outta the sopt and prep it, and just get my MIG in there and zap zap leak fixed forever? Any problems with that?

~T.J.

 

Please clarify where your engine is leaking oil... the pressure regulator, were it to leak oil where it threads in, wouldn't cause any oil loss, since it is *inside* the engine.

Any kind of solution you may be thinking of involving grinding anywhere *near* an open oil passage should be done with the engine disassembled. Likewise, wouldn't want to weld on an assembled engine, or even a disassembled one. Big pieces of cast iron don't take easily to being welded, for many reasons. (need special wire or a special spray-welding apparatus, the entire casting needs to be pre-heated, you might have to remachine....)

 

I meant oil pressure sender, not regulator. Sorry, its early, lol.

Well, how bad would it really be? I mean, it would just be a quick zip zap Im done. I plan to grind off the surface area mostly around the hole, but the hole will still be plugged. Then, just a quick little zap from the MIG and Its all filled in for good. Any other ideas? Im trying to avoid taking things apart as much as possible...

~T.J.

 

Spose there's no way of getting the JB Weld out and plugging it with a bolt of some sort?

 

Revhed has the right idea. Like peejay said welding on cast is a bad idea. You are asking for pain.

Even if you have to drill and retap the hole then thread in a plug with some teflon tape or pipe compund on it. That should fix the leak as well, as the welder could and not have the great potential for disaster.

 

Here's the problem though... say you do this. you have JB Weld chunks and metal shavings now in your oil system.

 

Yeah, exactly my point. People said to just take the pan off and flush that oil channel and what not, but thats WAY too much work... Someone said to just go slow with grease, and thats getting more my style. I thought about just pressurizing the system with a low pressure of compressed air, which would force any shavings and what all back out of the hole as it was being made. I would just take the lines off the oil cooler, plug one line, then put my modified plug that allows me to hook my air compressor to the plug (for testing for leaks, thanks Carl ) on the other line, then regulate in a few PSI of air pressure into the system. Even that is getting into too much work though, lol. Damn Im lazy .

Damn this JB Weld ****...

~T.J.

 

Well, you can be lazy now or lazy later. Lazy now and get crap in your oil passages, or lazy later and not have to tear it apart to do it right.

I really like your compressed air idea. That would seem to have the best chance of success.

 

Still the compressed air is iffy.

Any shavings that get traped it the residual oil are likly going to slide down the hole when the air pressure is removed because they are traped there.

It all sounds too risky for my blod.

Oh well

Good luck

- matt

 

The air will blow it out before they can get a chance to go anywhere.

Bewdiful.

The fun part is carefully picking all the JB Weld out of the threads so that none of it is still in there, so that when you thread in a pressure sender (or a gen-u-ine plug) it doesn't thread the slivers into the passage.

 

Isn't there a thread-chaser available? Or can one be made from a bolt? That combined with the air pressure oughta do it.

B

 

This is my idea: take off the oil pan, after draining all oil. Drill out the JB-weld, and tap. Plug with a fine-threaded bolt and Loctite liquid gasket. Before plugging blow the channel out with compressed air. It should work, as the same system is used to drill a hole for the sender into early 12A blocks (79-80).

 

Would't the filter catch the shavings?

 

Your welcome. Kinda puts the hair up on my neck, but it might work. Good thinking anyway! Just be REAL Careful! And From there anything in that passage should be caught by the filter cause its just upstream of it.

Oh and do you still have my pedestal and stuff from the cooler?

 

Yeah, I do Carl .

Ok, so I might just try the compressed air idea, just because I dont want to deal with taking the pan off and what not. Maybe even with one of those freaky strong magnets I have duct taped to the drill bit so that the shavings would stick to the drill bit also. Hell, I dunno... Ill come up with something. I just need to get that damn leak fixed. I just put another quart of oil in my car today .

~T.J.

 

Maybe if you only drive the car really really hard and fast.......you will burn the oil, before it has a chance to leak out?

 

Tried that. Doesnt work as well in real life as it does on paper...

~T.J.

 

i dunno if someone already said this cus i didnt read averything..
but dont mig weld where there is oil, mig weld is very porus and with saod up the oil, and u will be left with aliminum weld that looks like areo bar and it wounnt seal at all..

my advise would be to get hold of an x-press Tap. (it forms the metal, doesnt, cus so there isnt any swarf) and plug it with a screw