[d3adbattery]

Hello,

I'm very new to these forums. Over the weekend, I went on a car trip in my 1991 Ford Escort Wagon. On the way back while on the highway, smoke started coming out of my exhaust and heard a loud POP.

I pulled over and opened up the hood to find a rip in the pcv Hose nearest to the end by the top-right of the engine.

I quickly got my car towed home and bought a replacement hose at an auto parts store and installed it. Now the car starts, but will die after about 5 seconds of it being turned on and leaks a bunch of oil under the car in the middle somewhere.

I honestly don't know where to begin to check for what is wrong. Any ideas or help figuring out what is wrong would be much appreciated.

(one of my friends also said that the car sounds like it's running on 3 cylinders instead of all 4, idk why though?)


THANK YOU

 

[FordMan59]

Check on the rear of the engine (firewall side). The oil pressure sending unit is near the center of the engine near the oil filter. I've seen several of them crack and allow lots of oil to leak through them. A new sending unit will cost you about $5-$10 and takes about 5 minutes to replace. Might also want to check to make sure the oil filter gasket hasn't blown out, which isn't likely unless there were two gaskets, because of the old one not coming off with the old oil filter. In this case two are not better than one.

 

[d3adbattery]

Thanks, ill check those things out and let you know what happens. But can anyone explain why it dies after a couple seconds of being on?

 

[juggalo]

if the engine is cold then i would suspect the idle air control valve needs to be replaced. try holding ur foot on the gas pedal till the engine is warm then let ur foot off. if the engine stays running after that then there's ur culprit.

 

[Sparky34kv]

Have you checked your oil level? Does your oil look normal, no discoloration? I would pull your spark plugs and see what condition they are in. If you don't have a manual, get one. If you lost enough oil from the engine you would have low oil pressure, especially if the oil pressure sender blew out, and your valve lifters would not work well. My biggest concern is the pop you siad that you heard. Do you get any dash lights when you run the car? Other than running rough for the short itme id does run, are there any odd noises from the engine? I would not run it too much until you know what went wrong, if it is something mechanical it will only do more damage running the engine before knowing what you have. I didn't notice, how many miles on the car? Were you cruising when it happened, or accelerating like passing or going up hill? Sorry this is long, I just thought you should check more out before continuing to run the engine and maybe doing permanent damage.

 

[dave8338]

Here is a thought, PCV failed and stuck shut. Crankcase filled with pressure and caused a seal or sending unit to fail, ruptured a hole in the PCV line and now you're chasing a blown seal? :?

 

[Intuit]

What about the air-cleaner to valve-cover hose ? Open up your air-cleaner housing and tell us what's in there. Also, I would think that a seal somewhere on the engine would hold up at much higher pressures than what is required to keep that that little PCV hose on there and intact ??

I suspect that the PCV system was blown due to the engine backfiring through the intake. Perhaps it also threw a rod in the process.

Check you timing in addition to all else that the others mentioned.

But you really should avoid running it too much until you can determine what mechanical part(s) have failed.

 

[Jeffescortlx]

Your just going to have to get under the car and find where the oil is comming from. Other wise we could sit here all day guessing what it is.

It's common for the rip in the pcv hose. But that should'nt have any thing to do with the leaking oil.

I hope you are keeping an eye on your oil leval.

 

[zzyzzx]

http://www.feoa.net/modules.php?name=Fo ... ic&t=26196

Also, if the oil leak is that big, I would think it would be easy enough to find. I am posting the ablve link because the PCV elbows go bad like crazy on these cars, and a huge vacuum leak that would ensue would make it difficult or impossible for it to idle.

 

[d3adbattery]

Thank you for your guys' inputs. I will check where the oil leak is coming from today after work. The only reason i feel that the oil leak has something to do with the ruptured hose is because it didnt start until then.

B back on here tonight to update!

 

[d3adbattery]

source of oil leak found

hello,

so after taking a look under the car once again, we finally found where the oil is coming from. There is a hole in one of the sides of the oil pan, specifically on the lower side facing the front of the car.

how much would this be to replace and would i be able to replace this myself? Or would it be possible to patch the hole with some sort of Caulk?

Thanks for your help guys

 

[denisond3]

Im going to give my most important advice first; find out what happened to the motor to create a hole in the oil pan!! Unless you drove over some obstruction that gouged a hole in the pan, its likely your motor has much more serious problems.

There isnt any caulking that would stick to the oil pan very long; probably not even a day of driving.

If the actual hole is in the front of the engine block (above the oil pan), there is another possibility - since right behind the exhaust manifold is a tube that bolts to the block, and is located over a hole in the side of the engine. Its used to support the PCV valve. The reason I mention this is that a hole actually in the oil pan is VERY rare, while someone not properly mounting that tube behind the manifold is an easy mistake to make.

As to whether you can replace the oil pan yourself, it depends: Are you mechanically inclined, have the basic tools, and dont mind getting seriously dirty?
You need to unbolt/remove the catalytic converter from the exhaust manifold (only two nuts, but they are probably very rusty), and from where it joins the exhaust system under the car, right behind the flex-pipe section. These two bolts/nuts will also be very rusty. If you can get those loose, the rest is feasible. There is also a bolt clamping the exhaust piece to the bottom of the pan.
There are two large bolts from the pan going into the lower bell housing, then all of the small bolts holding the pan up; ten of them. If the pan has a hole in it, one from a junkyard or a spare one from someone who has a 'parts engine' would be needed. On the rare occasions I have needed to have aluminum castings welded up, its hard to find welders who want to do it, and its not cheap. Welding aluminum takes special equipment.
Find a used oil pan may take some calling/searching, but should be fairly cheap - as they normally outlive the rest of the car. You could put a 'wanted' ad on craigslist.org.

I would recommend you get a Chilton or Haynes manual for the car, if not the Ford OEM service manual. They would give you the torque specs for the various bolts when you put the pan back on, and the info about putting gasket maker sealant at the 4 corners of the block.

You might want to do a compression check, to see if the inside of the motor is still intact.

 

[Jeffescortlx]

As long as the hole is'nt from a rod, you can clean it up and patch it up with JB weld.