Chevy small block oil leak

This is really exasperating, and I need some fresh ideas. I did a top-end rebuild on a Chevy 350 that's in a 1984 K-20 truck I recently bought. It had a pretty good oil leak at the rear of the engine, so last weekend I dropped the oil pan, cleaned everything out, and installed a new rear main seal, high-volume oil pump, and pan gasket. And it still leaks.

The two sender holes (one next to the distributor, which is connected to the OP gauge, and the one above the oil filter) are properly sealed. It *looks* like oil is coming from the back of the block, and anybody would tell you at a glance that it's the rear main seal. But we know it's not that because there's a brand new seal installed.

Is there an oil gallery plug or something at the top rear of the block? I just gunked and pressure washed the whole engine, so presumably I might be able to tell where the oil is coming from.

Did I miss something?

Thanks!

Reply to
Jonathan Ward
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Rear intake seal ? Oil prewssure sending unit?

Reply to
carnut

What shape was the crank and bearings in? If they are worn or there is a groove on the crank a new seal may not do much. It could also be a bad intake seal or a bad oil gallery plug or the distributer seal Could even be that the sending unit itself is leaking and causing problems. You have the engine clean now. Dust it with a light layer of baby powder. Start it and run it for a while, DON'T drive it since the air moving around the engine will move oil around a LOT. Now look for the area that is wet with oil. Once you find it clean the engine again, repair the leak and change the oil.

Reply to
Steve W.

The only other thing I can think of is the rear of the intake can leak too.

Do what Steve said, run it without driving it. You may have to rev it up a bit - it might not leak at 10psi (idle) but at 50psi it'll leak.

Possible leak points at the back of a SBC: intake distributor oil pressure sending unit valve cover head gasket oil pan rear seal oil filter

I'm not sure if it's possible to leak oil around the freeze plug behind the cam?

Ray

Reply to
Ray

Yep it can very easily. Rear cam bearing also blocks the feed gallery to the lifters. If the rear plug is rusted it can leak.

Reply to
Steve W.

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