I just recently got done with a head job and everything seemed to go well. Started right up and noticed that the passenger side sai pipe had a leak at the union. It idled with a slight, what seemed like, miss. Not bad though. I continued to flush my coolant and it seemed that as the truck warmed up the sai leak got quieter( common). We went to a hotel for the weekend that was only a few miles away and when we parked my wife noticed oil spots that led to our truck. Looked under and yep oil everywhere. Checked oil level and it was high. I must have over filled it, which is weird because i only put around 5 qts in and kept checking it. Anyways, I drive home and now I start hearing a louder tick. Crawl under and oil leak was from the square hole where bell housing meets oil pan. Let it cool, jack it up and oil starts dripping pretty steadily out of that hole. The motor has a loud tick thats seems to come from everywhere. I drained some oil and it doesnt seem to be leaking while sitting but im freaking out and wondering if I overfilled it enough to cause some bearing problems or if it can possibly be from the sai leak. Im so mad that i cant think right now and need some advice. All i can think is that I ruined the motor because of a careless mistake with the oil... Any advice would be great!

 

First, never bleed the engine while letting it warm up, that won't get the job done.
As for the oil leak, you could not be over full at 5 quarts since the engine takes 6 quarts.
Are you sure it is oil and not something else leaking?

 

Its definitely oil and it may have been over 6 quarts. I know I had a full gallon and then after I posted i went out and checked and I had about 2 1/2 quarts in another jug. I guess I didnt wait long enough to check the oil in-between top offs.

 

Forgot to add that the ses light was flashing on the way home and the oil light stays on. I put a new front cover and oil pump in 1 1/2 years ago. The motor has always ran strong but the heads were leaking oil and coolant. I got the heads machined as well, they were .008 out. Also, when I first started the truck I did not have any ticking, just a very noticeable leak from the sai pipe.

 

Dang - that oil light comes on when pressure is under 7 PSI. You sound like engine just dumped coolant into the oil pan, or something. You should drain oil, look for coolant contamination (milky). It does not get higher by itself. You can't drive like this. You should never drive with oil light on unless you have some proof that oil PSI switch is bad. Maybe rear main seal blown out, but they usually leak. Could have oil pan gasket problem at the rear - see photo. Will need to do an oil PSI test.

Or could be head gasket leak. They can leak oil as well as coolant. Valley pan can leak oil out the back also.

 

Stop running the engine and do an oil pressure test before you have a possible pump failure.

 

The oil light would come on at idle before I did the head gasket. I had the oil pressure checked and they said it was good. I cant remember the numbers, but I checked them here. I just put a new oil switch on with the head job and it continued to have the oil light on at idle after the truck warmed up. It would go off as soon as the rpms got above around 800.

Savannah: There was no coolant in the oil. I drained some from the pan and it looked very clean.

Mike: I will go get an oil pressure gauge and check that. What is the procedure for doing that check? The gauge goes where the pressure switch is correct? If so, would I be better off just buying an aftermarket pressure gauge?

 

And other possibilities for oil light on include blocked oil filter (just toss on a new one) and possibility that trash got into the engine when doing HG and has now floated up and clogged the intake screen for the oil pick up in the sump. Oil PSI test first. If low PSI, drop pan (you would need to any way to replace oil pump). How long has oil light stayed on? Before HG? Only since HG? Go out at all on way to the hotel?

BTW - you get extra style points for taking SWMBO to swanky hotel after putting up with your wrenching activity....

 

Yep, just screw in where the switch goes. Should read high number (40+) at idle and 2000 rpm, cold. Because thick cold oil bypasses filter restriction. As it warms up, the idle value should drop, may stay in low 20's, should not drop below 10 at idle. High speed is rated 50 PSI for a D2, 40 for a D1. But if it is staying lit up all the time and you have engine noise, it may be telling the truth.

 

It never would stay lit only at idle. As soon as the rpms got above 800 the light would go off. It would never come on while moving. After the head job It did the same thing so I kinda just figured it had something to do with faulty wiring or something. On the way to the "SWANKY" hotel (lol) the oil light did the same thing but on the way home is when I realized the light staying on. It did not have the ticking issue on the way there either. It will probably be Tuesday before i get a chance to check the oil pressure but I will report back. For now, I have to find another truck........
Thanks again guys. Its pretty stressful when you put that much time into a project where I was super cautious and followed all torque specs and patterns to have the thing give you problems. Its nice to know that there are some guys out there that take the time to help people like me out!