Oil leak around distributor.

[Dot Heton]

I have a 390 with a Holley street dominator intake. I get oil pushing up around the distributor. I used the felpro wedge shaped o-ring on the distributor but it was obvious from the start that it left too big of a gap. I'm wondering if besides the ill fitting o-ring, if maybe an oil gallery plug could have been left out of my engine. How would I check? I also have terrible oil pressure.

[blykins]

What do you consider terrible?

If the distributor seal is leaking, it could be that the distributor is not centered in the intake manifold....or simply that the hole in the intake is a tad bigger than it should be.  If it's a little bigger, you can take something and wrap it around the distributor before you put the seal on, so it will push the seal further outward.

[machoneman]

What's terrible? Hot/cold psi? Idle versus driving psi?

[Yellow Truck]

I am putting a stock dizzy into a Street Dominator, and I ordered a new Felpro gasket for it. What I noticed is the gasket I removed was a tighter fit to the intake than the new gasket, and I'm considering reverting to the old one.

[Yellow Truck]

Well, that is interesting. I just pulled the dizzy and removed the new Felpro and compared it to the old one. The old one is SMALLER, and a tighter fit to the distributor. The difference in diameter is a little less than a tenth of an inch.

When I dropped the distributor with the old gasket into the intake it felt tighter, but it could be my imagination.

[Lenz]

Gasket wall thickness and/or maybe a different uninstalled inside diameter of the gasket?  I actually used my old dizzy gasket during assembly, it was in good shape and I liked the fit or "feel" better than the new one I had.  Far as the oil pressure goes, I would sign on to the previous comments and ask for more info.  What is the pressure hot and cold and is this a "right out of the gate" issue on a recent build or has it settled in over time?  Lots of possibilities there.

[Dot Heton]

I get oil pushing out immediatly upon startup and just keeps coming out. I have 30psi stone cold and zero when warm.

I found a picture of the suspect oil gallery plug. Now that I know where to look, I'll take the distributor out and have a look.

I bought this truck last year and have put two tanks of gas through it so far. The truck was restored 20 years ago including some engine work, but there's no way of telling if it was rebuilt or not. It sat for sixteen years until last year. The drunk PO started it and revved it up after all that time. The oil was like tar and I'm sure he took out the bearings. He also moved it twenty blocks just on the starter until the starter puked it's guts out all over the road. I just need the engine to survive the summer without further damage until a complete rebuild this fall.

Surprisingly it uses no oil, no puff of smoke on startup and has smooth as glass, high vacuum on the gauge. It runs nice, no complaints other than no oil pressure and this leak around the distributor. I'd love it if it was the oil gallery plug being left out.

[Drew Pojedinec]

An oil pump priming tool is your friend.....

Good luck! 

[Yellow Truck]

I took this yesterday, shows the difference in size between the new one from Felpro (the larger one) and the one I took off that had been there for a few years (the front - smaller one).



Until I install it I won't have any info about which fits better - the old one was installed in a 390 GT (with the dreaded "S") intake, and it is going into a Street Dominator.

[machoneman]

I get oil pushing out immediatly upon startup and just keeps coming out. I have 30psi stone cold and zero when warm.

I found a picture of the suspect oil gallery plug. Now that I know where to look, I'll take the distributor out and have a look.

I bought this truck last year and have put two tanks of gas through it so far. The truck was restored 20 years ago including some engine work, but there's no way of telling if it was rebuilt or not. It sat for sixteen years until last year. The drunk PO started it and revved it up after all that time. The oil was like tar and I'm sure he took out the bearings. He also moved it twenty blocks just on the starter until the starter puked it's guts out all over the road. I just need the engine to survive the summer without further damage until a complete rebuild this fall.

Surprisingly it uses no oil, no puff of smoke on startup and has smooth as glass, high vacuum on the gauge. It runs nice, no complaints other than no oil pressure and this leak around the distributor. I'd love it if it was the oil gallery plug being left out.

Dot, before you do anything else, pop the valve covers and remove both rocker shafts. Look at both and be sure the oiling holes in each shaft are facing DOWN, not up. Often FE rookies don't orient the shafts holes down and low oil pressure is a common result.

Btw, is that an electric sender on the dash or mechanical? Sometimes.....it pays to get a new sender if it's electric. 

[Lenz]

In the end, if you cinch up that oil leak you could run straight heavier weight oil if your purpose is to just drive it over the summer and a total rebuild comes after.  If you don't hear the valve train or any telltale knocking then maybe the bearings are not that bad from the abuse you described earlier.

I drove a scrub 350 chubby blazer for well over a year with poor to no pressure showing on a good gauge.  Ran straight 50 weight in it to keep it greased.  Sure, I lost a lobe on the cam but it was a '78.  All of the chub cams were junk for several years in a row back then.

Bet you could put a good straight weight oil in and enjoy it without doing further harm 'till the teardown comes. 

[Dot Heton]

I had a little valve train noise on the hottest days last summer. I don't have the the thickest oil in it as I was changing  oil every week and was just buyin  the cheapest I could find. I put a mechanical gauge in it since the stock ford gauge showed even less pressure. I'll check the shafts in the valvetrain. There is oil pressure when hot, maybe a couple pounds.

[Dot Heton]

I pulled the valvetrain and found the oil holes to be on the bottom of the shaft, so no oil pressure loss there. I found a couple rockers showing wear and making grooves on the shaft. I have a speedmaster adjustable valvetrain sitting here, it's the model with 17-4 stainless rockers and aluminum stands that support the ends. I haven't found anyone using it so I'm reluctant to use it. I'm a machinist so I inspected the tolerances and found them consistent with no slop except the roller tips slide from side to side a bit. I was going to go with solid lifters but it's not really necessary, stock stuff would work fine.

Next I pulled the distributor to look at the oil galley plug. It was there so my low oil pressure is due to bearings or the pump being worn. It's too bad because the engine runs so smooth.

Next I threw on my new Quick Fuel HR680-vs in place of the Holley 4412 with two barrel adaptor. It ran nice but I'm miffed that they don't include the fuel log or even an aircleaner stud.

[Dot Heton]

http://m.ebay.com/itm/171686320606?_mwBanner=1

Here's a link to the rocker arms, shafts and stands that I bought.