Ok so my motor is brand new, 170 miles on it, and it's always had a small amount of oil dripping off the drain plug. I figured it was just the old drain plug so I replaced the drain plug with one with the rubber gasket molded into it. Last night after a decent drive I noticed my oil pressure gauge acting pretty erratically. Always had pressure but would drop just below the N then bounce back to normal etc. When I got home I peaked under the truck and there was oil coating the entire underside all the way back to the rear endifferential and was dripping out of the tranny bell housing. So now I'm thinking the drain plug wasn't the issue because I realized that it never really left a puddle after not driving it for a couple days. But it was never serious until last night. I bought a short block so the upper rear main was installed already when I bought it. I installed a felpro metal/rubber 1 piece oil pan gasket.

Is it possible that something got screwed up when I installed the oil pan gasket? Did I install it wrong? Could the upper seal have been installed wrong? Could the oil pan bolts have come loose? I'm at a loss and seriously irritated.

 

What would cause the oil to just start dumping out like this so quickly?

 

Check the pan bolts to make sure they're tightened to spec.

I'd clean it all up, crank it and watch it from underneath to see where it's coming from. If it's that much oil, it should be fairly easy to spot. Check the valve cover gaskets as well, it may be coming from up top and running down.

 

I looked at the valve covers and they seem to be clean. Plus with as much oil that is coming out onto my headers the engine bay would be billowing with smoke. Lol

 

I am praying that the bolts just came a little loose. I torqued them to spec but it seemed a bit light to me. Hopefully this doesn't become reoccurring if they did work loose.

 

I hope that oil pan gasket went on dry, as required by the mfg.

If your have oil pressure gauge readings that are low. you'll have to verify with a mechanical, and at the same time, check the gauge for leaks.

Gasket leaks won't cause a low oil pressure gauge reading with a oil pan that reads full on the stick.

Not sure if the dash gauge in that year truck reads actual pressure though.

 

The gasket went on dry yes. I'm thinking that the reason for the oil pressure fluctuation is because my oil level is now low. I know it was full before I took it out because I changed the oil in it the day before.

 

Ok so I cleaned the oil up and fired the engine. No leak. When I checked the oil before I fired it up it was over full. I think what happened is because it was over full there was cavitation in the oil from the crank causing the oil pressure to freak out and the crank was slinging oil out the dip stick hole in the oil pan. I forgot to put an o-ring on it when I put it in and have been meaning to do so.