then that means i got her in right per your first post which i followed. so next i will try and sneak a mirror in there to see if there is seepage. unfortunately it will only exhibit leakage after warmup and pressurization so that precludes "hot" examination without injury, or else it is leakin' somewhere else cause i got a new valve cover gasket on it. i did notice that there was some pitting on the suface of the crank that rides in the rear main seal on the "new" crank they installed. my old one was perfectly smooth but had to be tossed as it was gaulded from the spun bearings. a leak there it would seem would cause oil to spew out the dust cover over the bottom of the bell housing though. that cover has a releif hole at 6 o'clock and i would think oil would just spew out of there if the main was leaking. instead it seems to just weep down the sides of the bell housing and drip off the lower suface. i will time it tomorrow but it doesn't leak at start up or after 90 seconds but waits till oper. temp. which leads me to the "packing" as it would not leak there till pressure builds up and the oil gets thin. more tomorrow. thanks for the "real deal" service manual references. i appreciate your diligence and concern.

That pitting on the crank is easily ground down before the crank goes in. The seal has plenty of give to it to take up a light cut.

Also a speedie sleeve can be put on over the end of the crank. I have even lightly milled the seal housing to move the seal up a few thou to get the seal into a clean area. Wth a small cleanup the oil pan bolts still line up.

Also you fuel pump can leak oil, as can the little port cover at the left front of the motor for the ballance shaft. The all tend to make drips at the back since the engine has a tilt towards the back.

Kevin

I think he's got a leak at the joint between the top and bottom halves of the rear cam bearing. This is a metal to metal join without a gasket, and the FSM says to put a light smear of rtv on the mating surfaces. DON'T get it into the oil passage, and use a LIGHT smear, or torquing it down will pooch it into the passage. Ditto the RTV at the right angle turns at the rear of the vavle cover gasket where it jumps over the rear cam bearing.

You can pull the rockers/rocker rails/upper cam bearings without pulling the head or the cam sprocket or cam. Use rubber glove fingers or finger cotts to hold the HLA's in the end of the rockers.

what are the HLA's? do you mean use something to keep the spring loaded rocker assemblies toghether when you lift them off the cam? i was figuring to just tie wire them or something similar. how do you use rubber glove fingers? cut em off and slip them over the ends? as you can see i am a vet with 283's and not overhead cams except motorcycles and most use buckets.
DDT

Here you go, man. If it's still leaking at that plug, check the puking oil thread.

You'll notice the cup (plug) has a little recess in it about 3/4 of the way to the open end. That recess fits into a raised groove in the hole.

If you've got it in right, you can feel it. Make sure you use the black RTV lightly all the say around.

Problem could also be in other areas as Kevin and Eddy have suggested, but my bet is on a bad seat of that plug.

Ed

Assumption: HLA=hydraulic lash adjuster AKA by Mitsubishi as auto-lash adjuster. Since most people do not have the u shaped clips to retain the adjusters in the lifters, they use finger cots or cut off rubber glove finger tips to retain the adjusters. I have a set of the clips, but it is a very good idea to retain the adjusters securely. Imagine the places they could go if one or more fall out when removing the lifter assy.
At the risk of being overly obvious, remember the cam may come up from the rear when the lifter assy is removed unless the downward pressure at the front from the timing chain is negated, usually by removing and moving the cam sprocket gear and chain to the front holder or holding it down in some other manner.
When I removed the lifter assy, looked at those compressed valve springs and decided to go into the head loosening mode and do a quarter turn on each bolt starting at the ends and working toward the center as many times as needed. After there was about a 1/8" gap between the upper and lower cam mounts, completely removed the two rear most bolts which only clamp the circular packing. These are not the two bolts at the top of the tower! It worked well except the circular packing stuck to the upper mount and then fell out thus raising the orientation question.

in ford terms then i think HLA=lifters, got it. yes those rascals need to be on the same valve stem heads and could definitely roam around every galley. ready to try it now. incidentally, if it was leaking at the main would it probably still be dripping even with the engine off?

I'll be glad to help, doctor.
Bend over please <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/butwiggle.gif" alt="" />
Sorry, I could not resist this answer.
Bob Shaw