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Oil leak by oil filter

redheadedrod

SM 2017
PM 2015
Full Member
Joined
May 15, 2011
Messages
3,187
Location
Muskegon, MI
So on the 5.3 can someone tell me what gasket there is around the oil filter?

Is there an adapter that the filter connects to or are there cooler lines that are blocked off?

I was told my oil filter adapter is leaking but when I try looking it up online the only thing I see is a block off plate for an oil cooler that these trucks apparently don't have.

Anyone familiar with these?

Looks like should be an easy swap out hopefully?

Rodney
 
There was a guy on another forum that had a problem like this with his 5.3.
The oil galley plug that is right by the oil filter adapter (just above it if I recall) was leaking.
So he took out the plug, cleaned it up, and put some gasket maker or whatever on the threads to seal it up.
I suppose teflon tape would also work as well.
The weird thing is that there is no o ring or gasket or washer on the plug supposedly, for whatever reason.
Hope this helps - for what it's worth.

CarMech1969
 
Thanks, I will check it out. Seems like I had heard other people in the past having similar issues but I guess best thing is to climb under there and see what I can see.
 
There are ports directly above where the oil filter screws on for lines running to an oil cooler.  For engines in vehicles without an oil cooler there is a small "cap" that basically connects the side that would run into an oil cooler with the side that would run the oil from the cooler back into the engine.  There is a gasket for this piece which is basically 2 round gaskets in a metal frame.
 
Went to the parts store and they had a gasket for this that looked different. It is a Dorman gasket and is all one piece rubber and thinner than the old one. No metal at all but matched up and said right on it that it was "Side oil pan gasket for 4.8, 5.3, 6.0 vortech"

Installed and no noticeable leakage at the moment. I fear though that looking at the leakage that the shop may have misdiagnosed the gasket and may be a pan gasket. Wiped down the area around it and see how it looks later.  Probably will hit it with some brake cleaner or something later to try and clean it up more but so not looking forward to a pan gasket swap if that is the case.

There is no apparent oil from the engine block but the passenger side was only leaking within about 6" of the filter. So keeping fingers crossed.

With the appointment this week to get the gasket between transfer case and transmission replaced this is my last known issue.

 
There are two gaskets that are used at this port on the oil pan above the oil filter.

The one that enoniam mentioned has two round holes in it and is used when the truck has the two oil cooler lines running to the oil cooler mounted inside the driver's side tank of the radiator.

This gasket sits between the oil pan ports and the aux oil cooler line adapter.

The other is used only with the block off adapter and it has a single oval shaped hole since the oil simply moves between the two ports on the oil pan through the block off adapter.

I certainly would not use the gasket with the single oval hole when you are using the aux oil cooler or vise versa.

When I bought a new oil pan a few months ago, it came pre-installed with the oil block off adapter and the oval hole gasket.

My truck has the oil cooler, so we installed the two hole gasket and tossed the oval gasket and block off adapter.

I guess I am surprised that I have never seen anyone mod their engine to have an aux oil cooler.

All it would take would be a radiator with the oil cooler ports built into the driver's side tank of the radiator (which it is possible that many trucks out there have a radiator with those oil cooler ports at that location, but they are just not being used.), a oil cooler line set and the gasket with the two holes instead of the single oval hole.

Easy peasy. 

A word of caution, the two bolts that hold either the block off adapter or the oil cooler line adapter are torqued low at something like 18 INCH POUNDS.

Someone before I bought my truck had apparently over torqued those bolts, probably to address an oil leak.

I had been fighting an oil leak at that location for the past six years.

Many attempts were made to secure that oil leak and we finally reached the point where there was not enough good material left at those bolt holes to get a good grip on the mounting bolts.

My last attempt to solve this issue was to buy and have installed a brand new OEM oil pan.

The oil leak at that location has finally been solved.

Other oil leaks were still there, but those are stories for another day and another thread.

(y)
 
redheadedrod said:
Went to the parts store and they had a gasket for this that looked different. It is a Dorman gasket and is all one piece rubber and thinner than the old one. No metal at all but matched up and said right on it that it was "Side oil pan gasket for 4.8, 5.3, 6.0 vortech"

Installed and no noticeable leakage at the moment. I fear though that looking at the leakage that the shop may have misdiagnosed the gasket and may be a pan gasket. Wiped down the area around it and see how it looks later.  Probably will hit it with some brake cleaner or something later to try and clean it up more but so not looking forward to a pan gasket swap if that is the case.

There is no apparent oil from the engine block but the passenger side was only leaking within about 6" of the filter. So keeping fingers crossed.

With the appointment this week to get the gasket between transfer case and transmission replaced this is my last known issue.

If you have to drop the oil pan to address your oil leak, go ahead and plan to have a new oil pickup o-ring installed at the same time.

The oil pan gasket is riveted to the oil pan, so dropping the pan is really the best way to go, if it needs replacing, IMO.

I did not and I ended up having my brand new oil pan dropped a couple of weeks later to address a drop in oil pressure.

I opted to just replace the oil pick up tube AND new o-ring as an assembly.

Replacing those immediately solved my low oil pressure issue.

I just ended up paying the labor to R&R the oil pan a second time.

:E:

When the oil pan is off of the engine, the oil pick up tube is right there ready to be changed out.

Given the age of your engine, this would not be a bad investment.

Also, if you are having the transfer case dropped, you might consider having the rear main seal replaced since the transfer case will have to be removed and the transmission will need to be moved back so the flywheel can be removed to access the rear main seal.

I opted to have the rear main seal and the rear main seal plate replaced as an assembly since both only cost 50 or 60 bucks all together and I had a leak coming from the seal and the rear seal plate.

I also took the opportunity to replace the original OEM oil galley dumb bell with a new billet aluminum unit since it lies behind the rear oil main seal plate.

Knock on wood, I think I may have finally fixed all of my numerous oil leaks.

Fingers crossed.
 
One other thing, clean off the entire area with non-flammable brake cleaner and then add a bottle of Interdynamics Certified A/C Pro Oil And Fuel Systems UV Dye to your crankcase.

Go get a UV test flash light.

I found a really good one at Lowe's for about $5.

Drive the truck for several days.

I drove about 100 miles.

Don't drive too much or you will lose the point of the leak.

If you can, put the truck on a lift and the UV light will show you where the oil is coming from.

Be advised that the oil leak at the rear main seal was not quite as obvious since that oil was shattered around and thinned quite a bit as it came in contact with the flywheel.

It was hard to see when looking up through the observation port in the bell housing, but became much more apparent once the transmission was moved out of the way.

Oil leaks suck.

Best of luck with your repair.

 
EXT4ME said:
There are two gaskets that are used at this port on the oil pan above the oil filter.

The one that enoniam mentioned has two round holes in it and is used when the truck has the two oil cooler lines running to the oil cooler mounted inside the driver's side tank of the radiator.

This gasket sits between the oil pan ports and the aux oil cooler line adapter.

The other is used only with the block off adapter and it has a single oval shaped hole since the oil simply moves between the two ports on the oil pan through the block off adapter.

I certainly would not use the gasket with the single oval hole when you are using the aux oil cooler or vise versa.

I've never used the single hole gasket, whether with the block off plate or not.  I don't see how using the two hole gasket would be a problem given how the block-off is constructed to pass oil through it.  I have no problem with someone using it with the block off.

As an aside, this area is the source of pressurized oil for my Vortech supercharger.  KY_Bob and I used the 2-hole gasket when we pulled the supercharger off of his AV before he sold it when he sold the supercharger to me.

Also as an aside, we know that the 5.3 engine is an LS-based engine.  GM first released the LS as the LS1 in the 1997 Corvette.  My 2000 LS1 Corvette does have an oil cooler making use of this port and I presume the 1997's did as well.
 
For now I decided to just monitor the leak. It "bleeds" on the driveway but otherwise is not a big pain.

I checked under the oil pan after driving to work (40 miles) and it appears that there is new oil. So I am guessing its for sure a pan gasket. I had the Main seal replaced when they did the transmission probably 15k miles ago. They also went through the transfer case at the same time. Since the gasket between the Transmission and Transfer case is leaking I am starting to question the quality of work. Doesn't matter if RC in Detroit gives lifetime warranties on stuff if its a tank of gas and a rental car for me for a few days... (And a tank of gas on the rental car)

I did pull the inspection cover to check for oil on the flywheel but you really can't see much. The back of the flywheel is fine.

Since I plan to do a major overhaul of my truck in about 3 years and I am currently only driving it in the summer time as a second vehicle I will probably just get into the practice of checking the oil for now until I buy my own place.

My CTS goes through more fluids right now than my Truck does...

When I get ready to do the pan gasket it looks like dropping the front differential is the way to go but not sure if it is best to fully drop it out or just a couple inches... Watching videos it looks like it might be less of a pain to just drop it right out since the only thing left to do is disconnect the driveshaft from the transfer case. (The videos I see say to remove the crossmember, the axle shafts and the two bolts holding it into place. Only thing still fully connected as far as I can tell is the axle shaft from transfer case to the differential. )

Just had the axle shafts out so they should come out easy... But again, thinking I am better to monitor for now... I am used to adding a quart of oil to the CTS every other tank of gas. Apparently those 2000's 3.6 dual over head cam engines are known to leak a lot... And quart to 1000 miles is considered "normal".
My truck is probably only loosing a quart every 1500-2000 miles right now.

Rodney
 
You may want to try Bar's Leak.  Our Corvette was regularly leaving silver-dollar sized puddles of oil on the garage floor.  When I changed oil just before leaving for the Power Tour I added two bottles of Bar's Leak.  (Directions said one bottle was good for treating up to 5 quarts of oil, the vette takes 7.)  Did nearly 2300 miles on Power Tour in the vette - haven't seen any oil on the garage floor since returning.  You don't need to do it at an oil change but should do it far enough in advance of an oil change for it to be in the crankcase for several hundred miles per the directions.
 
enoniam said:
I've never used the single hole gasket, whether with the block off plate or not.  I don't see how using the two hole gasket would be a problem given how the block-off is constructed to pass oil through it.  I have no problem with someone using it with the block off.

Actually, I do agree for that application and almost put that in my post.

But with my luck, I would have said it was OK to use the two hole gasket and someone would have done so and found out for me that the two holer did not seal as well as the correct single holer for the block off port.

I do not have an engine with the block off port, so what I know.

Since you have actually done this with success, I will defer to your experience.

But if you are headed to the parts store to buy a gasket to solve a leak, why not just get the correct part?

We were careful every time we changed that gasket while chasing oil leaks to make sure we installed the correct one.

And with the oil cooler, it is critical to use the correct one, as you know.

No big deal, I suppose, if either one works.

(y)



 
To drop the oil pan, you can simply move the front diff out of the way.

Move it down, forward and secure it.

The front diff only has to move a few inches to clear the front of the oil pan.

No need to take it all the way out of the truck.

The cross member will have to come out.

The first time my old oil pan was removed to install the new one, they moved the transmission/transfer case assembly back a touch.

I don't think they did the second time when the new oil pan was dropped to install the new oil pick up tube, but I might be mistaken on that.

When my rear main seal and plate were installed, the transfer case was totally removed and the transmission was moved rearward.

I've watched this procedure done on my truck enough times in the past couple of months to last me a lifetime.

Hopefully, not again any time soon.

:E:
 
I decided to wait on the oil and the transmission leak I have because they are relatively minor and I can use the money other places right now.I can buy a lot of oil and transmission fluid for what it will cost to replace them now when I will be doing a bunch more stuff to my truck in 3-4 years.

Just have to insure I check them for now.

If I have the facilities I MAY do the job myself on a rented hoist. We shall see. I just hate doing jobs like this on jack stands... Although the oil pan doesn't look THAT bad to do...

Just would hate to pull the pan and see that my rear main seal is bad too... Although if it is, it isn't leaking bad. I popped the cover and the backside of the flywheel is dry. I should borrow a camera at work and poke the fiber up to the main seal and inspect it... If it isn't a main seal then I feel better about doing the pan myself and hiring out the trans leak. But sucks that the total parts will be under $50 and both jobs are 3-4 hours book time.
 
redheadedrod said:
I decided to wait on the oil and the transmission leak I have because they are relatively minor and I can use the money other places right now.I can buy a lot of oil and transmission fluid for what it will cost to replace them now when I will be doing a bunch more stuff to my truck in 3-4 years.

Just have to insure I check them for now.

If I have the facilities I MAY do the job myself on a rented hoist. We shall see. I just hate doing jobs like this on jack stands... Although the oil pan doesn't look THAT bad to do...

Just would hate to pull the pan and see that my rear main seal is bad too... Although if it is, it isn't leaking bad. I popped the cover and the backside of the flywheel is dry. I should borrow a camera at work and poke the fiber up to the main seal and inspect it... If it isn't a main seal then I feel better about doing the pan myself and hiring out the trans leak. But sucks that the total parts will be under $50 and both jobs are 3-4 hours book time.

I feel your pain on the jackstands thing.
Crawling under a vehicle on stands and bench pressing heavy components out of the way is a giant PITA!
Especially when rust and dirt falls into your eyes  :E: I really hate that!
Now we know why the labour is so ridiculous.
A couple of weeks ago, I upgraded some plumbing in the basement of my house due to drainage issues and what not...it took me all day long to finish, and I felt like I was going to fall over when I was done. Makes them worth their money when you really look at it!
Now if I could be 30 again with the knowledge I have now!! Lol

CarMech1969
 
Oh I hear you... As I get older I can probably do much more than when i was younger but now you start thinking about why do I want to do this when I can afford to pay someone else.

Or at least i will be able to... I have always looked at  how much it would cost me to have someone else do it and how long would I have to work to make up that money. If I can do it in the same time I am better off doing it. But it I don't have the right equipment or knowledge then maybe its best to let someone else do it.

The Transmission to T-case gasket... No brainer... Let someone else do it...

Oil Pan Gasket... I might just do it myself but not very motivated to do it right now...

 
CarMech1969 said:
Now if I could be 30 again with the knowledge I have now!! Lol

CarMech1969
Amen to that.  And, if YouTube and these forums were as big a thing in my 20's and 30's I would have done a lot more of my own work and maybe even kept my old S10 Blazer.
 
At my age and general condition, anything that requires that I get under a vehicle just isn't going to happen.

It would take me longer to get standing upright again than the time to do most repairs.

:laugh:
 
So I hear on here that pretty much all 2002-2006 5.3's do not come with oil cooler... Just 6.0/6.2...

Facebook groups... Pretty much everyone telling me they have oil coolers on their 5.3...

Wondering what the real story is... Probably won't concern me much since I plan to upgrade in a few years to a 6.0 with SC and sounds like the oil cooler lines get used with the SC.

 
All you would need to upgrade to an engine oil cooler would be the oil cooler feed line set, the two hole gasket to use at the port on the oil pan, and a radiator with the oil cooler ports in the driver's side radiator tank.

If your radiator does not already have those ports, you can just specify a new radiator from an EXT when you buy a new one and the ports will be there.

I'm thinking it would be just that easy.

 
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