[ihc] Never overlook the obvious, or even the oblivious

["John Stricker" <jstricke@xxxxxxxxx>]

This is mostly to Howard, Steve and Mark S., and Hofs.

When these yahoos were visiting, I told all of them of my leaky valve cover
difficulties.  For those of you that don't know, I'll go back a while.
Sherman, set the way-back machine to about 1997.

The engine in my '80 Traveler was getting a little tired.  I had a couple to
rebuild, but both of them ended up being unworthy of my Scout so I ended up
buying a rebuilt 392 NI Cooling short block.  Put a set of fresh 345 heads
on it with the Thermo-quad, and was quite happy with the performance, if not
the gas mileage.  Used the Scout pan and accessories so it kept the dipstick
on the drivers side of the engine.  What the heck, it's a toy, screw the gas
mileage.  Engine ran well, used and leaked no oil, and all was right with
the world.

Sherman, move the way-back machine to 2002.  The body was rusting badly and
I'd lost the front two cab mounts to the dreaded creature.  Rather than just
fix it, I decided to FIX IT.  The Scout was gutted.  Body came off.  Top
came off, interior gutted.  Everything fixed to better than new, including a
set of Herr Flecksters rear disk brakes.  It took six months and cost about
$10K, but when all was done it was worth every penny.  I think that all of
the above (except Mark, who's never seen the Traveler in person) will agree
it's one of the nicest Scouts you'll ever see, and nearly rides like a new
truck.

Enjoy the heck out of it until this spring.  Uh-Oh, what's that?  Oil.  On
the front axle.  Crap, passenger side valve cover gasket leaking.  Oh well,
fixed it.  No big deal, just a little something to remind me it IS 23 years
old.  Drive it for a month, more oil.  I'll look at it when I get a chance.

In July, we have a big Fiero show to go to in Detroit, MI.  1200 miles one
way for us.  We decide to trailer the show car and, at the last minute,
think it will make a nice rig to use the Traveler to do it.  In the shop it
comes.  Valve cover gasket replaced again.  Holley fuel injection installed.
Everything checked and re-checked.  Test drive.  Oil RUNNING out the valve
cover.  Crap-ola.  Back in the shop. This time, go to Navistar and get the
IH rubber gaskets.  Use "the right stuff on them".  Let it run for about an
hour in the shop the night before we leave.  A slight leak on the front main
seal.  I dig through the parts and actually find one after I can't get any
of the friendly parts guys to come get me one.  Put it in.  Dry as a bone.
Life is good.

We head out the next day.  Fill gas at Topeka, about 180 miles.  Getting
about 12 mpg.  I'm not unhappy.  But what's this?  Oil coming from the valve
cover gasket.  Crap, press on, leaving  oil behind us since we needed to get
to St. Louis that night.  Got in there, found a parts store with "the right
stuff" and some brake clean and a pack of single edged razor blades.  Pull
the valve cover again and reassemble with on gasket, just "the right stuff".
Let it run in the motel parking lot for almost an hour, dry as a bone.

Take off for the run to Detroit.  Get gas about 200 miles later, oil all
over.  Decide "screw it", add oil at every gas stop and keep going, I'll
look at it in Detroit.  Get there without difficulty and find a set of
gaskets.  Take an afternoon and do a leisurely valve cover gasket change.
Test drive around Detroit and run it for a couple hours, dry as a bone.

Head for home get a couple hundred miles down the road, smell oil.  Same
crap, different day.  Thoroughly disgusted, we just keep feeding it oil and
come on home.

As soon as we get home, I decide this is NOT acceptable and it will be
fixed.  We change the valve cover gasket one more time using the rubber one
we have left at home.  Nothing changes.  At idle, it will not leak a drop.
Get it on the road and the front of the head, alternator, bracket, and block
are covered with oil.  Now it's time to get serious.

We add the dye and get out the fluorescent light. After cleaning everything
spotlessly, we put it in the shop and set the idle to 2500 rpm.  About 15
minutes later, there's a fine mist of oil on the front of the engine.  It
appears that the oil is coming our of the TOP bracket mounting bolt.  Steve
S had suggested a crack in the head, could it be??  Bracket comes off and we
can't find a crack, but the bolt is oil soaked and it appeared to be running
out of there, so we used a new bolt, wrapped in Teflon tape with "the right
stuff" pumped into the hole before we installed the bolt.  One good thing,
though, was that the dye proved to us positively that the oil was NOT coming
from the front seal, distributor, valley cover, or valve cover gasket.  At
least we were narrowing it down.

Finally, today, we decided to try a new approach.  We took the alternator
bracket, a/c compressor, and alternator completely off.  We found a belt in
the shop that would run the water pump using the p/s pump as a tightener.  I
put another ounce of dye in 3 more quarts of oil and overfilled it three
quarts.  I was going to find a leak somehow, somewhere.  And I did.  It's
fixed.

I've given you all the information you need to tell me where it is, so tell
me.  I may even give a prize to the person that comes up with the answer.
I'll give you until midnight, so you'll have to email me and digest readers
just lose out.

John Stricker