BDRATT Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 So recently my '81 Brat has developed a very large oil leak. About 2 months ago I replaced the head gaskets, oil pan gasket, valve cover gaskets, PCV, and oil pump/filter gasket. Drove my car a couple hundred miles after then one day I drove it 20 miles, stopped and oil was coming out the bottom and all over the engine like no other. I topped off the oil, and drove it till I got around to replacing the improperly installed oil pan gasket, drove it 20 more miles and low and behold, OIL. The bock, bottom of my Brat and everything is just oil. No clue where its coming from. I had blamed my last gasket problem on the PVC freezing, as I live in the cold hell that is South Dakota. My question is what do you guys think it could be? Is it still the oil pan? Before I had changed the head gaskets I had no problem with oil, only antifreeze. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEECHBM69 Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 I know it's frustrating, but you need to clean everything off and find exactly where it's coming from. You've put your hands on a lot of stuff, so it could be any of the things you touched/ replaced, or even something you didn't. If it's bad, it should be obvious once you clean it up. Good luck! Dan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmpjose Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 Hello. Is the front of engine dirty with oil too? If so it couls be the front main oil seal. I have a EA81 that leaked from front and back mail seals. Also check the oil pressure sensor its located by the bottom kinda hidden by crankshaft pulley. Now ive dealt with two types of EA81's. The oil pressures censors can be different depending on model of subaru for example the model with just the low oil indicator light on dash will have a smaller oil pressures sesor vs the one with the actual pressure gauge on dash. That one has a bigger pressure sensor with a floater in it. This bigger version of sensor was broken and was dumping oil like no ones business. I will try to upload pics soon. This is werw i found my leaks come from. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmpjose Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 Hello. Is the front of engine dirty with oil too? If so it couls be the front main oil seal. I have a EA81 that leaked from front and back mail seals. Also check the oil pressure sensor its located by the bottom kinda hidden by crankshaft pulley. Now ive dealt with two types of EA81's. The oil pressures censors can be different depending on model of subaru for example the model with just the low oil indicator light on dash will have a smaller oil pressures sesor vs the one with the actual pressure gauge on dash. That one has a bigger pressure sensor with a floater in it. This bigger version of sensor was broken and was dumping oil like no ones business. This is were i found my leaks come from. Here you will find the two different oil pressure sensors. If you have the oil gauge on dash then it could be possible the sensor is broken or loose. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 It’ll be your oil pump or front crank seal. When you drive the leaking oil is blown over the sump area, always making ppl think it’s their sump gasket leaking. If it was, it would be weeping very slowly due to no pressure working against the oil. When removing the oil pump ALWAYS remove the crank pulley and NEVER use a hammer unless you want a really dead, almost two piece oil pump... Cheers Bennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDRATT Posted April 3, 2019 Author Share Posted April 3, 2019 (edited) I actually have both oil sensors. Car came with a gauge sensor attached to the single light indicator. Bought a small sensor type like you have a picture of and installed that. Crawling under the car I noticed fresh oil coming down. Only a drip though. To me this would suggest maybe not a crank seal, but I'm no expert. It had dripped off the passenger side of the oil pan gasket. Also, my oil pump seems to be one of the least affected things on the car, as the seem where it connects to the engine has little to no oil on it. Whereas the oil pan bolts have fresh oil on them. It's hard to tell exactly where it would be coming from, as the fan belt shot the oil everywhere. The back of the crossmember seems to be the most oil covered, second only to the pan. This is assume is do to the placement and flow down of the oil. There is however a small bulge up on the passenger side of the oil pan gasket where the fresh oil had been spotted. Edited April 3, 2019 by BDRATT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 If the crank pulley shot oil everywhere I’d be looking that the crank seal. You might find that it’ll leak at a certain rev range too. Been there done that. If you’ve not touched the oil pump you could suspect that too. If you didn’t do the internal seals, that could be part of the issue. I hope you get it sorted sooner rather than later! Cheers Bennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDRATT Posted April 7, 2019 Author Share Posted April 7, 2019 Update or sorts: Got under it, all bolts on oil pan were loose, expecially back ones under crossmember. Changed back to original PCV from the crappie Chinese one I had put in it before. Seems the oil possible ruined my alternator, so if anyone has any ideas you clean that up, I would much appreciate that. I'll be driving it tomorrow after I put in the extra one I have, so I can see if I made a difference. One more thing. Is there any diagram for the 1981 brat vacuum and fuel lines around. The hood on my brat is from my parts car and is a 1980 diagram, same on my 1980 wagon. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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