OIL, not Fuel in the fuel shutoff chamber

[johnknp1]

Hi everyone, I have just brought home my very own M35A2 and I developed a strange issue on the drive home.

I drove about 100 miles. no leakage anywhere
drove another hundred miles had almost 4 quarts of oil blown out under the truck
I located the origin and it was coming from the cover to the fuel shutoff on the injector pump
I tightened the screws holding the plate on and it lost only 3 more ounces on the rest of the 200+ miles (I added the 4 quarts back)

got home, did some research and EVERYONE that says they had a leak in this location says its fuel but this is definitely oil. My oil is exactly where it was after I topped it off (I checked correctly thanks to this forum) so im not 'making oil'. I cleaned everything up and took the cover off and its 1/3 full of thick black oil. I don't have any other issues with the truck and it starts and runs great. All my research in the TM for the injector pump and on these forums points to the set of 3 orings (Viton 013, 227, 230) but its a fix for a fuel leak while I have a oil leak. I know oil shouldn't be in the area as I have seen videos of people showing off a fuel leak with this cover off. oil pressure is about 65. Please help, I don't want to start bleeding cash on guess work fixes.

 

[frank8003]

See this post about the lube oil going into and out of the fuel pump.
Two little hoses that can kill an engine quick.
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?18880-Oil-line
It does not answer your specific question which is quite interesting.

 

[johnknp1]

Ill check the hoses out in the morning and see if they are a contributor in this problem, as im stuck at work tonight. I will also try to post some pics. Does it sound like a good idea to run it with the cover off to maybe see if i can learn the direction of flow or anything? I really dont want to damage my engine, so im trying not to run it at all until I understand this better.

 

[johnknp1]

The thing i keep coming to is a notice in tm 9-2910-226-34 that says if a newer model hydraulic head is installed on an older model pump there are chanels that need to be plugged because the newer HH doesnt flow oil to the lower portion of the drive gear. Either it has nothing to do with anything or it might be a clue.

 

[cattlerepairman]

How much oil are we talking about? My shutoff cover always contains a small amount of lube oil, perhaps two or three spoons full. It does not leak because the O-rings and the cover gasket are new. I put this down to normal IP lubrication.
I can see this leaking out with a defective gasket or shutoff lever O-ring and making a mess. Replace both and re-evaluate.

 

[johnknp1]

got home today and the water in my house didn't work, had a busted line outside in the well access. draining it and fixing the fitting was 5 hours of fun and stopped me from doing anything with my deuce.

well, when the screws on the fuel shutoff plate were loose enough to turn easily with my fingers it dumped out about 4 quarts in 100 miles of 50mph highway driving. after tightening it only lost another 3 ounces. What keeps throwing me is that there are several videos of people running their engines with the plate off and the chamber is shiny clean and there is no oil to speak of (usually their is a diesel leak, however) on youtube. I guess if fuel can leak here and end up in the oil it would be able to work in reverse as well. Is the oring for the shutoff the smaller of the 3 oring set that's used to fix the fuel leak? (the Viton 013/227/230 that I've read about on this forum in a few places)

 

[rustystud]

got home today and the water in my house didn't work, had a busted line outside in the well access. draining it and fixing the fitting was 5 hours of fun and stopped me from doing anything with my deuce.

well, when the screws on the fuel shutoff plate were loose enough to turn easily with my fingers it dumped out about 4 quarts in 100 miles of 50mph highway driving. after tightening it only lost another 3 ounces. What keeps throwing me is that there are several videos of people running their engines with the plate off and the chamber is shiny clean and there is no oil to speak of (usually their is a diesel leak, however) on youtube. I guess if fuel can leak here and end up in the oil it would be able to work in reverse as well. Is the oring for the shutoff the smaller of the 3 oring set that's used to fix the fuel leak? (the Viton 013/227/230 that I've read about on this forum in a few places)

What you don't see in those videos is the truck running past 800 rpm's down the road. The pump is supplied with oil and as with any circuit that has a oil supply if it can leak out it will. Take your valve covers off. You can run the engine and it will appear that not much oil is getting out. But take it out on the road and you will see quite a difference ! Oil will be everywhere ! The oil pressure at idle is around 30 psi. At 2200 rpm it is at 60 psi.

 

[johnknp1]

Ah, never thought of that, but it makes good sense. Ive searched high and low for the fuel shutoff seal without luck. Anybody have one for sale or know where to buy one?

 

[johnknp1]

allright, ive answered my own question by doing the research on the forums. Sorry for being the guy who joins and starts asking redundant questions. It appears welldigger has orings and seals to sell. Ill give him a pm and see if he's still in stock.

 

[welldigger]

Yup. Rustystud is dead on. Oil is perfectly acceptable to be inside that cover. Your cover came loose and allowed oil to leak out. Quite a bit of oil circulates through the injector pump to lubricate it.

It's a leak that needs to be fixed but I wouldn't call it a catastrophic problem.