OIl in the manifold valley?

[MahtyMaht]

1988 454, Bravo 1, just dropped this recent rebuild in. Me and the stepkid took it to the drink yesterday, didn't burn down, ran well, but after 30 minutes or so, I'm seeing oil collecting in the pan that covers the lifter valley. The intake is an Edlebrock AirGap RPM, and I see that whoever installed it used an obscene amount of clear silicone fore and aft at the block. I don't really see how oil gets in that pan without running down one of the sides, and I see no tracks. Could there be a missing distributor gasket drooling oil? I do NOT want to have to pull that mani if I don't have to, because I don't think it'll clear the cast aluminum valve covers, which means the Stainless Marine elbows....... Well you know.

 

[JustJason]

Re: OIl in the manifold valley?

Looks more like water to me than oil...

 

[TJS]

Re: OIl in the manifold valley?

Sorry but your picture is not so good. You should not be able to see the "valley pan" on a Chevy. If you do you have a problem. You are seeing the bottom of the intake manifold. Again the pic is really bad and has a strange reflection that looks of something paranormal.
T.J.

 

[MahtyMaht]

Re: OIl in the manifold valley?

Yeh, the pic is dicey, but the kid shot it with his I-phone, 'cause I wasn't there. I'll get a real pic at some point and post it. I know it looks like water, I thought it was too, till I dipped my digits in it the first time I saw it. I never saw an airgap manifold up close before this one, but I'm assuming it's a one piece casting. I just don't see how oil can get on top of the thing, unless it leaks from above it, and the only place I see that could happen would be the distributor base.

 

[Fishermark]

Re: OIl in the manifold valley?

The bolts that hold the manifold on are prone to oil seeping past them - they need to have a thread sealer of some sort on them. Perhaps they were installed dry. That would be an easy thing to check.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: OIl in the manifold valley?

And why in the heck would someone assemble the motor using clear silicone?
No place for it on any motor!

 

[zbnutcase]

Re: OIl in the manifold valley?

The clear silicone alone is enough for me to do a re-install....

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: OIl in the manifold valley?

The clear silicone alone is enough for me to do a re-install....

Agree with that 100%!

 

[MahtyMaht]

Re: OIl in the manifold valley?

I finally had occassion to look for the oil leak on that AirGap RPM intake- It's from 2 small holes drilled, and apparently tapped. One of them is the spot in the reflection on the oil, the other one is about 2" away, under one of the runners. I put a 2-56 thread screw in the one I could get a screwdriver on, and made a tapered aluminum plug that I drove into the other one, and staked the bejesus out of it. The obvious question - what are two holes tapped for thread sizes most folks never heard od doing in my manifold? And that clear silicone - what is that, house stuff? What am I doin', hangin' around waiting for the massive vacuum leak?