Oil gushsing from near filter on G3500

Dec 27, 2005 4 Replies

I have a'99 G3500 express van with over 332,000 miles on it .I live in a cold climate and the other morning when starting up there came a sputtering sound beneath and when i got out to check it i saw a large amount of oils gushing from near the filter. As i live in a Condo Complex and am responsible for the condition of my parking space i couldn't let it run to see exactly where the leak was coming from but it generally looked like the filter. I shut it off checked the filter, tightened it some and tried again with the same result , gushing motor oil.I went to the parts store and bought oil, filter, drain pan and a filter wrench and put on the new filter added five quarts and when i started it it happened again after a few seconds oil began gushing out from near the filter. I have a few questions before i have it towed to a garage. The night before i parked the car last before this happened about ten minutes up the highwy from home i added some stop leak fluid to the radiator as there had been a slight leak of coolant. Is there any connection whatsoever between the cooling system and the oil system which could result in this rupture if say the stop leak pellets are clogging in the coolant system?If there is none what is up and behind where the filter screws on that may be the source of the leak? I haven't been able to look while the engine is running and as i put a brand new Fram filter on and the same thing happened i am unable to identify the problem. If i could fix it myself i'd rather than have it towed. It has since snowed and is very cold out now so i'm not inclined to get out there to try but when it warms up some i have the drain pan i can use to collect the oil as it spills and run the engine to perhaps see the problem though getting a face full of oil doesn't sound like much fun. Any good answers will be very much appreciated Thanks.


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If it's actually coming from the filter seal itself...you may have some sort of problem with the pressure relief valve in the oil pump. Full pump pressure can either blow the filter up like a balloon, or lift the filter off it's seat enough to leak. Other options, if you have a set of oil cooler lines, it could be leaking from the gasket and seal that are between the filter adapter and engine block.

Ian

Thanks, i had no idea so much pressure could be created by the oil pump. I just learned about the filter adapter which is what i was beginning to think could be it. I also do remember thinking i saw a bit of the silicone seal on the filter squished out from between the filter and the adapter and wondering if that was normal or not but now that i think of it the leak did seem to be from above the filter which would mean the adapter and i suppose that isn't such a major repair job and i'll have it towed to the garage and fixed. 332,000 miles and just had a new windshield installed. Recent brake drums, rotors, calipers, showes,pads, shocks a ball joint and a power steering pump all within the last year and i like the power of the 5.7 ltrs.If the repair comes in under $500.00 i'll be happy again. Thanks.

I had a similar problem with a Saab 9000. When I changed the filter, the old gasket stayed stuck to the engine and when I put the new one on, obviously it didn't seal well. The result was 4 quarts of oil pumped out onto the ground. Lesson leaned: Make sure the gasket comes off with the old filter.

Steve

while that apparently did happen when i first tried to change filters in my parking space as it was discovered by the garage when i towed it there, the pressure problem was the real issue as even after they put on a third filter making sure the o-ring was seated properly it still blew out from the seal point. I am annxioulsy awaiting word from them tomorrow when they gte the adapter to allow them to bypass the oil cooling lines to the oil cooler. If this doesn't work i may cry, lol.....

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