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Daughter's 2001 S10 pickup oil leaker


Chris Stewart
11-19-2013, 04:00 PM
She said the engine made a funny noise then the Check Gages light came on and oil pressure showed zero.
As previously discussed years ago, she got off the road, shut off the engine then called me.
I told her not to start the engine but call a wrecker to bring it home....AND DON'T START the ENGINE.

My load leveler and I were in the Smokies when I got the call. I told daughter to drive the Bravada until her truck was fixed.

When I got home, I found no oil on the dipstick and the top oil cooler line on the radiator had come loose so I snapped it back in place and poured in 4 quarts of new oil.
I disconnected the coil wire and cranked the engine with the starter a few seconds, no noises:)

I cranked the engine again until oil pressure showed 50psi, stopped cranking then cranked again until oil pressure showed 50psi then connected the coil wire and started the engine.
No noises and smooth idling:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
Still running good and that oil cooler connection is safety wired.:sunglasse

Tech II
11-20-2013, 09:46 AM
Wow.......caught a lucky break, there......if the line somehow just popped off(kind of hard to do with that retainer in there......or was there some previous work done on radiator or occasion where the line was disconnected and re-inserted?) and oil pressure was immediately lost, then shutting down immediately saved the engine......the sucker must have been smoking, with the oil hitting the hot engine, like no tomorrow.....

Chris Stewart
11-20-2013, 09:15 PM
It was the top connection so most of the spray was deflected by the air cleaner box, which itself can contact the connection if handled roughly.

She had some work done at a local shop (she needed to learn this because I'm not going to be on the planet forever) which included removing the air filter box. I suspect the box was handled roughly on reinstall and the top oil cooler connection hit.
I installed the radiator back in the summer and all connections made good.
Because snap clip location on the line can't be changed, I safety wired the connection and the box is held away from the connection with safety wire too, it should be fine.
A good friend gave me a safety wire kit for Christmas last year and I've been using it on all kinds of projects.

Tech II
11-20-2013, 09:50 PM
And now we know the rest of the story.....

ericn1300
11-24-2013, 07:56 PM
Not often something like this happens Chris but I'm glad your girl listened to Dad for once. The only time I had an oil starvation was when the oil pump went out on a car I was driving. It's amazing, and scary, the amount of clattering the motor will make in just the short time it takes to shut it down.

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