oil pressure issue

[geospider]

Worried and thinking it is time for a rebuild.
have been progressively getting more oil coming through the PCV:into the carb: oil not vapor.
and now progressively bigger oil leaks. esp noticed this morning: did drive the car a short distance yest. no useful oil pressure gauge (it will peg with just the key in on position, always did).
anyway, the oill leaks and crankcase pressure is prob the important symptom here. assuming the pressure has started making the seals fail. even noticed coming from one of the valve cover gaskets.
it has been running better than ever, but that would abruptly stop if it lost all oil on a drive.

thoughts?

Geo

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Geo, how many miles on that bad boy? If over 150K, then yes, it might be time for a rebuild.

Two questions:
- Have you done a compression check?
- You're not overfilling the engine with oil, right?

Maybe I mentioned this before, but if the wires are swapped between the oil pressure sender and the low oil pressure light sender, the gauge will peg when you turn the ignition on. Or maybe you just have a bad pressure sending unit.

-Bryan

[geospider]

hey Bryan,
almost 100K on the motor; although head was done about 2k ago.
last time I did a compression test: 125+ for all (all within 3-5 #s)

gonna start by cleaning out the oil trap/breather. see what happens.
but a fair bit of oil on the floor this morning from a short drive yest

the oil pressure gauge: ran a new wire from sender to gauge. put the low pressure light sensor on the front side of the oil filter housing.
I think a bad sender; initially pegged, then worked for a while intermittently, then just pegs all the time.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Yes, it does sounds like a bad sending unit. As for the oil, it could just be that the engine's started to leak oil. 125+ on the compression isn't terrible, but it's not great either. I usually look for 140 and above, and below 120 I'd start to think about a refresh on the engine.

Let us know what you find with the oil breather.

-Bryan

[geospider]

Cleaned the oil separator: not really dirty. put a new gasket on (there wasn't one).
gotta say; there must be a better design on this thing; what is the real reason for the elbow hose? other than a pain to get a real clamp on it. Maybe some physics I haven't considered.

cold compression check: 125, 115, 120, 125; plugs a bit fouled; not running rich but looking that way

ran the same short run, less oil so far, but still oil up into the air cleaner.

[Nut124]

Try to assess how much blow by is coming from the breather.

At idle, plug the breather with thumb and see how fast it builds pressure.

[geospider]

new information:
very short drive: lots of oil in air cleaner (btw: I have one of those lunch box style cleaners)

Did a leak down and compression: done warm
Leakage Comp
#1 20% 127
#2 75% 95
#3 22% 120
#4 62% 130

All leakage: air coming from dip stick and crankcase vent hose.
#2 sucks
#4 seems strange with the highest compression and 62% leakage.
but given the rest and the oil in air cleaner (also the pressure is pushing the cork gasket out of the valve cover; partly)

looks like a rebuild

geo

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Yeah, those numbers look marginal Geo, and given all the blowby, it looks like a rebuild is in order. Holler if you need some help.

-Bryan