Need Help With Oil Leak!

ka12leb · July 14, 2011

I have a 1989 light duty K2500 GMC Sierra 4x4. I had a 350 in it but it leaked a lot of oil, had to put in a quart a day if I only left the house once. I tried to do a leak dye test but still couldn't find the leak. At the time I didn't have the money or the time to tear down the engine and rebuild it and all that and find the leak. So I found a 305 and had that put in the truck. The problem is I STILL have the same oil leak. There's too much oil everywhere to see where the leak is from. To be honest I don't really want to clean everything under the truck but I know that is probably what I'm going to have to do. The oil is only on the drivers' side. Any oil splattered on the passenger side is just from wind blowing it around. Anyone have an opinions on how or why it is STILL leaking the same as before. I still have to put in a quart of oil about every other day or every day depending on how much driving around I'm doing. Maybe something from the 350 that was put onto the 305 was bad or sealed crappy? Please if anyone has any ideas let me know asap!

Thanks guys!

wavery · July 14, 2011

I have a 1989 light duty K2500 GMC Sierra 4x4. I had a 350 in it but it leaked a lot of oil, had to put in a quart a day if I only left the house once. I tried to do a leak dye test but still couldn't find the leak. At the time I didn't have the money or the time to tear down the engine and rebuild it and all that and find the leak. So I found a 305 and had that put in the truck. The problem is I STILL have the same oil leak. There's too much oil everywhere to see where the leak is from. To be honest I don't really want to clean everything under the truck but I know that is probably what I'm going to have to do. The oil is only on the drivers' side. Any oil splattered on the passenger side is just from wind blowing it around. Anyone have an opinions on how or why it is STILL leaking the same as before. I still have to put in a quart of oil about every other day or every day depending on how much driving around I'm doing. Maybe something from the 350 that was put onto the 305 was bad or sealed crappy? Please if anyone has any ideas let me know asap!
Thanks guys!

Who put in the engine? I think that person should be responsible for helping find the leak if it is indeed in the engine. Although if you just bought an engine and paid the guy to stuff it in the truck, it's not his responsibility to repair that engine or any other parts that are bad unless he damaged something during the install (like dropping the engine on the pan or valve cover).

Did you have new oil pan and valve cover gaskets put in the 305 before installing it? That would have been super easy while the engine was out.

Chevy valve covers often leak and so do rear main seals. So do the oil pressure sender switches. He may have moved the oil pressure sender from the old engine to the "new" one.

Does the engine have an oil cooler? That is something that would have transferred over to the 305. It could be something as simple as an oil line leaking from the very beginning.

What kind of oil filter are you using? If you are using Fram oil filters, change to Wix or anything else. Frams leak.