Oil spewing out of oil filler pipe

[Tom in SW VA]

Can anyone tell me why oil would be spewing (spraying) out of my oil filler pipe when the car is running? The engine is newly overhauled and recently installed. Could it be too much oil or something wrong with oil pump? Has anyone ever had this happen to their Model A engine?

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

[Rowdy]

Rings not seated yet, but I have never had that much crank case pressure due to just unseated rings. I would call whoever overhauled the engine and ask them also. Rod

[MAG]

I have seen the baffles in the oil filler pipe bent so that the pipe is "straight through". Originaly they were shaped and staggered to prevent oil spray from coming out the filler pipe.

[allen]

I agree with mag check you pipe there would have to be heavy blow coming from the motor to push oil out, most of the oil that comes from these cumulates and drips there are after market flex pipe to help this out good luck

[Louis]

Tom,
Yes it could be to much oil,... don't go by the full [F] mark on your dip-stick. keep it about a 1/2 qt. low even if you half to drain some out. you may half to install a road tube which vent's the fumes below the firewall.

[msmaron]

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Dumb but is the Oil pipe set into the engine TIGHT, i use permatex silicone to seal it and it solved my over spray problem along with copper steel wool in the top of the cap to catch any other spray and YES make sure the baffles are bent correct. Good luck,

[Art Bjornestad]

I have a pressurized engine and have a lot of spray coming up the filler pipe. I use a stainless scouring pad and this solves the problem but I have to fish the pad out when I add oil.

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Originally Posted by Louis

Yes it could be to much oil,... don't go by the full [F] mark on your dip-stick. keep it about a 1/2 qt. low even if you half to drain some out. you may half to install a road tube which vent's the fumes below the firewall.

Let's not go there with this advice!!

- - - - - - - - - -

Tom, like I stated in the e-mail to you this morning, bring it to the shop Tuesday morning and we'll see. The engine "re-rebuilder" will be there then to and he can look at it and give his opinion too. For everyone else, just to put unnecessary speculation to rest, this engine was totally rebuilt by a rebuilder in Ohio early on during the restoration yet had so many issues that the current re-rebuilder took the engine into his shop at the last minute and re-worked many of the problems as a favor to me, --so PLEASE let him have a chance to look at it before any premature judgment is made by some who doesn't know all the circumstances.

Tom, I also tend to suspect that it is from bent baffles in the fill tube since your engine has counterweights but at this point please let us look at it and see what is fact and you can post the findings here.

BTW, I know the engine is very close to being sealed-up.

[Benson]

Yes and there were three different breather tube versions (if you include the Model B version there were 4 versions) that engineers tried in an attempt to fix the oil vapor problem.

[skip]

Breather cap/pipe might be plugged. 'Cause the oil filler cap is squished down too far, blocking the pipe?

Check Antique Motor re builder in Skokie, Illinois for the web site that covers this info. Goggle it.

skip.

[Fred K-OR]

I had the same problem on my rebuilt engine. Oil blow by out of the filler pipe. I put the question on the Barn a month or so ago and the advise I got was to not be concerned. The rings had not seated in yet and when they did, it would go away. Further advise was to put a sock over the pipe to catch the oil to keep it from getting over everything. I did this, the oil did get caught and it seems to be going away. But I am no expert on this situartion. So you may want to have your rebuilder check it to see what is going on.

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

UPDATE:

Tom came by with the car and as soon as we looked in, I saw the problem. He admitted he was the "guilty one" that did the installation. The biggest problem was that I had to use a seal puller to remove it as it was absolutely sealed well at the block. The good news is it wasn't something wrong with the engine internally. And, ...now he knows what to look for in filler tubes as I printed off a page from the "Standards" showing the differences as he went scoouting around here looking for a replacement, but the bad news is I did not have the correct one that he needed. All I had was the later type, so we ordered the correct one from Berts. And, ....Tom knows how to install it correctly this time.

Ohh, the price of education...........

[Ron/IA]

Brent - I have read your UPDATE several times, and for the life of me can't figure out what was wrong. (Please excuse me if I seem dense.)

Are you saying the filler tube was the wrong one? Or was it installed wrong? Or both?

The reason I need more clarification is my fill tube is in poor condition and needs to be replaced. I did not know you could get a "wrong" or "wrongly install" a fill tube. (If that's the case in this instance.)

EDIT: I see now you stated, "Tom knows how to install it correctly." How do you not install an oil tube correctly?

[700rpm]

Well, Tom went to the right guy. Brent is a stand-up cowboy.

[Kevin - Illinois]

I'm with Ron on this one. I don't understand the solution either. I mean did Tom install it upside down or something (I hardly think so). Even with that it doesn't explain the spewing oil problems. Maybe if he put a filter in the cap causing too much back pressure? Brett coukl you give us a few more details?

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Well, I was going to take pictures and show the diagram in the Stds., but I honestly just don't have the extra time to go thru all of that right now, ...SO I'll see if I can explain it a bit and have it make sense.

Inside the tube is a series of baffles, which should be oriented with the flap closest to the crankshaft and facing downward. As the crankshaft rotates, it throws oil towards the camshaft and upward towards the bottom of the pistons where it starts raining oil from all directions due to the crankshaft slamming into the collected oil in the dippers. The turbulence is increased when the crank has counterweights installed because as this "dripping oil" falls from the bottom of the pistons and the rods, it is "batted" even more towards the driver's side of the block. If the tube is inadvertantly installed rotated where the baffle is not aiming straight downward, it has the ability to act as a scoop and collect the oil draining down the side of the block and that which is being thrown at the tube from the crank arm. As more & more oil is allowed to gather at the bottom of the tube, it simply forces the oil upward and it spews just like Tom was suggesting. The spewing is actually caused by the rotation of the crank arm each time causing an air pulse. I hope this explanation makes it a little clearer.

[Doug Cox]

Brent,
Not bad, if fact a great narrative for a retro-redneck from east Tennessee…who would have guessed at this hinden tallent,,, you should have a great future writing old car manuals…. I bet there are going to be hundreds of Model A owners (me included) pulling their oil cap and checking their baffle orientation.

Take care buddy……

[Tom from Drippin']

Originally Posted by Doug Cox

Brent,
Not bad, if fact a great narrative for a retro-redneck from east Tennessee…who would have guessed at this hinden tallent,,, you should have a great future writing old car manuals…. I bet there are going to be hundreds of Model A owners (me included) pulling their oil cap and checking their baffle orientation.

Take care buddy……

+1..........Thanks Brent!

[allen]

Thanks brent just installed mine now going back to look and make sure i did not make the same mistake

[Don S]

Brent,I just checked the service bulletins for information on the oil breather pipe. On page 358 there is the old and new style depicted. The new shows the tabs upward replacing the old with tabs facing downward. I am confused,your suggestion is the tabs facing downwards, am I missing something in the translation?Looks like tab orientation is important,because I have counterweights on my crank.

[Benson]

Originally Posted by Don S

Brent,I just checked the service bulletins for information on the oil breather pipe. On page 358 there is the old and new style depicted. The new shows the tabs upward replacing the old with tabs facing downward. I am confused,your suggestion is the tabs facing downwards, am I missing something in the translation?Looks like tab orientation is important,because I have counterweights on my crank.

Page 454 shows the third version, a later version, with tabs downward and totally different from the previous designs. The first two designs are similar and third is radically different in the way that the baffles are fastened inside the breather tube (figure 896 shows this).

The Model B engines did not have counterweights at first. The CWs were added later (first ones were wider and later ones were narrower) and then the fourth design, the large B tube breather with a completely different baffle design was added. That said, the SB pages 358 and 454 were written to address the vapor problem for cranks WITHOUT counterweights.

Adding CWs to an A crank most likely throws more oil up and out of the breather tube.

[Craig Lewis]

Don look at page 454.
Old spewing must have been a big problem back then
...perhaps as the engines wore out?...
whatever the case page 454 shows Ford's final improvement with the tabs facing down in the direction Brent indicates.
Yes I'm another guy running off to check my pipe
No doubt a ton of testing went into the design change way back then so this final pipe would the one of choice for a non-purist. (or the B pipe)

Now-a-days we have carefully trained service managers who dumb down the car owners with phrases such as
"gee we haven't heard any other complaints on that"
and my favorite "we can certainly sympathize with your situation"
2nd stage would be installing several identical pipes at the customer's or warranty company's expense.
3rd stage, given a wide enough range of troubles in a single model they can always re-name the car a sell it for a few more years.

Bankrupt? Hang on while we bail you out.

[Mike V. Florida]

Originally Posted by BRENT in 10-uh-C

SO I'll see if I can explain it a bit and have it make sense. .

Going to check mine as soon as i get a chance.

[1931 flamingo]

All this talk about checking pipes? If you aren't spewing oil why the worrying? If you were you'd know. JMO
Paul in CT

[Dick Carne]

Just a quick thought for future reference - some of the new reproduction oil dip sticks do not have accurate readings for the oil levels - an original is always best.