Oil leak

[Rian_Colorado]

Well after the excitement of first start yesterday, the first thing any good builder does is checks any and every thing for leaks!

Found a sad little puddle, and tracked it to a point right at the mating surface between the motor and transmission. At this location, the oil pan appears to seal up against the bell housing, and there's a very super slight deformation of the pan itself. (Easier to see if you zoom in on the attached pic)

Any thoughts, opinions or suggestions on what this might be?

Freaked out pessimist me says "oh ****, it's a rear main!"
More sensible and optimistic me says "it's a bad oil pan seal of some kind"

Since I didn't assemble the motor, I have NO idea what it looks like when apart, so I came to the FFFF (fantastic FF Forums) to get input again. Thank god for the interwebs.....

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=218227&d=1756508187

Rian

[Derald Rice]

Check the rear edge of the intake manifold gasket where the manifold meets the block

[gbranham]

Its probably one of four things:

1)Oil pan gasket
2) Intake manifold gasket
3) Rear main seal
4) Valve cover gasket

I'd retorque the oil pan, valve cover and intake manifold bolts and reassess, if you can't positively identify the source of the leak. After several heat cycles, which is where you are, a good retorque of all this is a good idea. Coolant and oil leaks can start up high on the engine, and present in a different location at the bottom of the engine. Be curious in looking over everything, even if it seems like an unlikely culprit. The oil pan gasket is a little tricky to seal fore and aft in the corners around the crankshaft. A little dab of RTV is helpful here at assembly. Don't know if your builder did that. Remind us who built it?

[boat737]

Mine was a DS, forward end, valve cover gasket. Oil found its way all the way down to the bottom of the bell housing, like yours. Took two weeks to finally chase it all the way back to that valve cover gasket. Tried 3 different after market gaskets to finally seal the after market valve cover to the after market head.

[Rian_Colorado]

Stupid me for thinking the oil is coming from where the oil IS!!!

All are great suggestions, I'll take a look and report back

Motor is from Mike Forte - Left him a message Friday but I don't think he got a chance to call me back before the weekend

Rian

[Rebostar]

I had an oil leak on the engine I built for my cobra. Fortunately I found the leak while it was still on the run stand. I could clearly see the drip beading up at the bottom of the engine on the block ABOVE the oil pan. It was a real head scratcher. Someone here on the forum mentiond having a similar leak that turned out to be the front intake to block seal. I do not use a gasket there. I fill the space with grey gasket maker along the "china wall". I removed the intake and resealed using new head to intake gaskets and making sure both the front and rear intake to block walls had plenty of sealant. That fixed the leak. The oil must have been seeping out and along the parting surfaces and accumulating at the bottom of the block. Go figure! Thank you again forum members!

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[Bob Cowan]

Every oil leak on a SBF shows up exactly there. Doesn't really matter where it's coming from, it ends up there.

Use some corn starch or baby powder to find where the leak is really coming from. All of the above are likely causes. Don't forget the fuel pump boss.

[Gnzo84]

I had a small leak on my BPE 306. Took the pan off and found a deformed flange from BPE over-tightening the bolts. Bought an upgraded fel-pro one piece gasket, flattened the flange and put the oil pan back on … and the leak got worse.

Long story short 2 gasket changes later, I found the Canton oil pan install instructions which specifically say the Canton oil pan only works with the 4 piece gasket. Changed it out and no leaks.

I wasn’t able to get the Fel-Pro to work putting the pan on underneath the car while on stands but sounds like others have.

[gbranham]

I had a small leak on my BPE 306. Took the pan off and found a deformed flange from BPE over-tightening the bolts. Bought an upgraded fel-pro one piece gasket, flattened the flange and put the oil pan back on … and the leak got worse.

Long story short 2 gasket changes later, I found the Canton oil pan install instructions which specifically say the Canton oil pan only works with the 4 piece gasket. Changed it out and no leaks.

I wasn’t able to get the Fel-Pro to work putting the pan on underneath the car while on stands but sounds like others have.

How long has your BPE engine been on the road?

[Gnzo84]

How long has your BPE engine been on the road?

About 2 years. It leaked from first start and just got it stopped.

[gbranham]

Wow.