Oil leak.......

This may be a stupid question... but the Chief is pissing all over my driveway lol... its hard to see where its coming from. Any one seen this issue on your poncho?

Oil pan gasket, if original, may be a likely suspect. Valve cover gaskets or valley gasket may be another.

Finally, rear main seal seems to be a common source of oil leaks on the older cars.

Welcome to the web site! You will find lots of help here as I have many times in my quest to restore my 59 Star Chief 4dr sedan.
When you said pissing oil it made me think of when mine did that. A steady stream in fact. It turned out to be the oil pressure sending unit had developed a crack and was litterally pissing a high pressure stream of oil all over the driveway. When I shut it off and found the leak, I grabbed the wire on the top of it to take it off and the whole top of the sending unit came with it. As I recall it is on the passengers side just above the oil filter. Check it out if its a lot of oil on the driveway.

Rear main seals are a common problem with most old cars. I hadn't heard the sending unit one yet but that makes me wonder about the oil leak on my Power Wagon. I used about 15 quarts of oil on a 400 mile trip. I've never seen one leak as bad as this one

The other suggestions are all possible leak areas but if it's "pissing" I would think it's going to be either the front or rear main. You're going to have to crawl under it to find out. First wipe everything down and then run it idle to find where it's leaking from. Then we can diagnose a bit better. Otherwise you might be chasing it repairing things that need not be repaired.

I have a moderate leak - they complained at my winter storage, and i had to make a tray . Problem is the fuel pump, which seems to have a worn out seal - so if the leak size is very dependent on the oil level this may be it. It took me a while to find, since the oil runs down the side of the block, and drip off a completly different place.

That's weird

hey thanks guys! those sounds pretty good. A little bit of the leak seems to come from above the oil filter canister, i tightened it and it didnt do anything. lately though its been dripping off the bottom of the fly wheel cover... sometimes pisses and sometimes it doesnt.. usually it waits till it gets warmed up. i'll have to look at the mains and the oil sending unit. thanks alot though guys for the input! anyone know where i can get a factory assembly manual? dang we're gonna have to have a huge get together one of these days tha'd be sweet

thechief.....No Assembly Manual available to my knowledge. Been searching for one for the last 10 years. There are, however, 4 Service Manuals that are very helpful. They show up on E-bay all the time. They are the Chassis, Fisher Body, Hydramatic, and Heating and Air Conditioning Manuals. Just about anything you need to know are in these including the "secret of life.".....John

thechief wrote:

hey thanks guys! those sounds pretty good. A little bit of the leak seems to come from above the oil filter canister, i tightened it and it didnt do anything. lately though its been dripping off the bottom of the fly wheel cover... sometimes pisses and sometimes it doesnt.. usually it waits till it gets warmed up. i'll have to look at the mains and the oil sending unit. thanks alot though guys for the input! anyone know where i can get a factory assembly manual? dang we're gonna have to have a huge get together one of these days tha'd be sweet

If you don't get that gasket in the right spot you'll leak oil around the filter housing. A good way to get it right is to put some grease on the gasket and stick it up into the filter assembly (not on the can) before installing the filter.

As far as around the flywheel, it's your rear main that needs to be replaced. You can either replace it with an rope seal from a parts store or get a viton seal from BOP engineering or Tin Indian Performance. Not sure if anyone else carries them.

ya thats what i noticed onthe oil filter. it took me a minute to get it right but i'm pretty sure its okay. i havnt gotten under to look at the seal yet. what is involved in replacing that? i might just do the rope seal

In order to do it right you're going to have to pull the transmission, the oil pan, loosen main bearings on the crank and lower the crank to get at the seal. I know you can pull the oil pan without pulling the engine, I've done it.

I suggest the viton seal. It'll prevent any leaks when installed right cause it doesn't have to wick like the rope seals. Also, it's easier to install cause you can slide it around the crank easy without having to pull the crank.

okay i'll look around for those. i'm not even going to play games with this i want to do it right lol. so that seal is a rubber seal? how much did it cost?

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Dev
1959 Pontiac Star Chief Vista

It's a type of elastomer, rubber-like. I think it was about $30 and you can get it from BOP Engineering or Tin Indian Performance. Make sure you get the one for the 3" main.

awesome i found it. its actually $39.99.. on BOP Engineering. thanks alot for your help guys. now to order it and get it taken care of....should be a learning experience haha


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Dev
1959 Pontiac Star Chief Vista