Excessive crankcase pressure?

[dhirocz]

Im going to baby it until I get home and change that gasket.

It's almost like oil is pooling up top faster than it can drain back down to the pan.

[RTRUCKING48]

(12-11-2017 )dhirocz Wrote:  Im going to baby it until I get home and change that gasket.

It's almost like oil is pooling up top faster than it can drain back down to the pan.

It seems that the valve cover gasket it's shot, i had the same problem before but mine was leaking from the front driver side of the head down behind the compressor i thought it was the cam seals but it was the valve cover gasket i replace it and end of the problem, hopefully that's it on yours

[Moose]

Cummins sells a UV fluorescent dye you can add to the engine oil. (3376891) ~$22./each last time I bought some a couple months ago. It's one bottle per 10 gallons I believe so get two.

You can get a UV florescent flashlight on Amazon for around $10

These two things along with a clean, warm engine at high idle & low ambient light should tell you the truth. A small leak somewhere along that valve cover could be traveling around the perimeter of that gasket and blowing off as it sees fit.

[ktbtrucking]

First two pictures are cm570, when you actually can see a light between head and front gear housing. So it is easy tell you have a leak from cam seals. It leaks a bit from front gear cover though. There 2.3 mil mies on this engine. Low blowby from tube.

3 and for are cm870 with 1.3mil miles and it started leaking oil a lot last 2k miles like your story.
Removed exhaust flex pipe to see back side of an engine because had large leak from outside "clutch housing" - so assume now the source of it is cam covers. Cleaned it .Run a truck for a while and it looked like it comes from cam covers.
Also had a leak originated (pic3) above oil cooler housing. Mean oil was going down on the cooler from above. It was not looking like oil cooler gasket.
Lastly pic 4 there is a lot of oil above air compressor next to fuel coolant plate ( or ECM coolant plate ) Removed both ecm and coolant plate and found nothing.

So Rawze once said to me that my head is done. Did some research and I believe you might have similar issue.
The oil leak i have have developed fairly quickly and sometimes truck runs like there in no oil in it ( Mean runs noisy.
Blowby fairly visible and when it sits running for the night I have an oil stain under the tube.(sometimes as big as tennis ball sometimes as basketball )

What I have learned from Rawze videos and website seems like when the head is worn out it vibrates a lot a you have an oil leak all over the engine.
Also poped up the rocker cover and looked for anything and found nothing.

Because I resued old gasket I believe it did not seal as strong as new one so had some leaks around cover but thightened it more and more.
Which makes me to a conclusion that there is a lot of crankcase pressure that goes up through oil drip channel.
Finally when I just covered the rocker cover without tightening it down at all had oil leaks around it all over - basicly like exhaust gasses going through cover.
Spend a lot of time reading and learning on worn out engine so would like just to share it with others.
If you have similar symptoms just stop driving and inframe it.

[dhirocz]

I'll be headed back towards the house this tomorrow. Ran out of time in MA so I need to take a 34.

I actually was about to post about excessive noise. That kind of bothers me now...I was planning to do a number of things to include replace the air compressor...it's been getting noisy, and replace the valve cover gasket. While I was at it, I was going to run the overhead again and wear check the head.

Problem is, while I verified the compressor is part of my noise issue, I know it's not all of it...I was actually about to post about piston slap.

Guess I need to go do those repairs, check the head and see where I'm at. I was hoping to wait until springtime to do the engine. I'll get those parts replaced and see what it looks like afterwards and make a judgement call.

Yes it is starting to run noisy. Some of it is the compressor, just not sure how much. I don't like it. Blowby has increased...even at idle...to the point I can visibly see it when it warms up coming out the drip tube.Oil pressure is still good, and I would expect it to be, seeing as it got 6 dimes and a bearing roll at 685k when it got new cams and @m*m^2. It's at 730k now.

I know I can check the clearance from the detent as an indicator of wear in the head before it decides to let go. Are there any other indicators I need to be checking for besides this?

[Rawze]

(12-17-2017 )dhirocz Wrote:  ...
I know I can check the clearance from the detent as an indicator of wear in the head before it decides to let go. Are there any other indicators I need to be checking for besides this?

besides that detent clearance, oil leaks above the air compressor on the drivers side is usually an indication of copper showing on the bearings at the injector cam.

If blo-by was getting mine, I would just keep run it until the head showed signs of excess valve wear and/or you could not keep it from leaking out of all the seals but would certainly be saving my money up and getting it done.

[dhirocz]

I'll check it out. Bearings should still be ok...they were done when the cam was replaced to get more life out of the head, even if it wasn't much at that. If they're already worn then there is a serious issue here.

The head is my main worry. I can deal with it if I've still got some time. Im worried about that detent clearance necessitating immediate replacement. Dropping a valve is a great way to ruin the party...and if I'm going to do a head, buying a kit, liner tools and a new head is a better way to go, and is much easier if I don't ventilate the block.