possible oil leak

[Weasel]

Yeah, the 1st year or 2 4.4i had the separate oil valve, probably the one you have. The next few years have it built into the rear plate/cover of the manifold... then the newer, valvetronic v8 has a completely different system. You have the one with the 2 hoses that essentially turn to modeling clay after years of use. Which unfortunately is the bigger pain in the a$$ to change. You just gotta have long, thin arms and good fingervision... and being a contortionist helps also.

[we350z]

Hmm. I have short thick arms but and blind fingering vision lol. Well supposedly you can dismantle part of the firewall to make it easier according to someone's post earlier in this thread. Anyway I have yet to remove the plastic cover on the engine and check haha. That's just my commitment to pure laziness and my speculatory nature.

Originally Posted by weasel56

Yeah, the 1st year or 2 4.4i had the separate oil valve, probably the one you have. The next few years have it built into the rear plate/cover of the manifold... then the newer, valvetronic v8 has a completely different system. You have the one with the 2 hoses that essentially turn to modeling clay after years of use. Which unfortunately is the bigger pain in the a$$ to change. You just gotta have long, thin arms and good fingervision... and being a contortionist helps also.

[we350z]

Ok so I took the engine cover off. I don't think it's ever been off before, it was pretty dusty down there so I cleaned it up with the air compressor and some shop towels. I didn't see any visible oil leaks around the valve covers... just a little grit and grime. I felt the two oil seperator lines in the rear and they are definately a little on the soft side. I didn't see any visible leaks there either but I think I will need to take the in-cabin microfilter out to get a better look down there.

[Weasel]

Originally Posted by we350z

Ok so I took the engine cover off. I don't think it's ever been off before, it was pretty dusty down there so I cleaned it up with the air compressor and some shop towels. I didn't see any visible oil leaks around the valve covers... just a little grit and grime. I felt the two oil seperator lines in the rear and they are definately a little on the soft side. I didn't see any visible leaks there either but I think I will need to take the in-cabin microfilter out to get a better look down there.

Yeah, I think the microfilter is the section of "firewall" people are referring to... it's just a filter bulkhead... easy to remove though.

[we350z]

Cool, I was envisioning something acutally part of the firewall itself...

Originally Posted by weasel56

Yeah, I think the microfilter is the section of "firewall" people are referring to... it's just a filter bulkhead... easy to remove though.

[supersteve]

Looking from the front of the engine, behind the engine you'll see two gaskets for the hood. The rearward most one is the fire wall (at the base of the windshield). The forward one is on the filter bulkhead. That big piece of plastic which sits right behind the engine has three pieces. The center one comes out to look at the back of the engine.

[Weasel]

Originally Posted by supersteve

Looking from the front of the engine, behind the engine you'll see two gaskets for the hood. The rearward most one is the fire wall (at the base of the windshield). The forward one is on the filter bulkhead. That big piece of plastic which sits right behind the engine has three pieces. The center one comes out to look at the back of the engine.

exactly!

[we350z]

Lokos like Indy shop may have found the source of my oil leak issue. They cleaned it all up and traced the seapage to the oil sender return line and tightened up what appeared to be a loose banjo bolt. Where is this? Is it visible in the pic here?



We'll see if that's really it but if so I am releived to hear it's not something major.

[Weasel]

It would appear so. Thats not a common leak point though... Hope that's the end of it!

[we350z]

Yea me too. I'm not so sure thats the spot they are referring to, I took that pic last night. So did you evacuate New Orleans?