help with oil leak, 914 case of unknown history Options

[Al Meredith]

I am building a 2056 for a friend and it is mounted on my run up stand and fires right up as expected but has a serious oil leak on the 3/4 side . Not the filter ,not the oil cooler, not the pressure switch. I replaced the push rod tubes and installed Vuton O rings. Oil is coming from above the air diverter plate above the pushrod tubes . The diverter plate is filling it's pockets with oil. I removed the plate and see no Leake.I removed the spark plugs and turned over with the starter motor and got 25PSI {I have a direct reading guage installed) can see no leaks . When running I'm pumping over 50PSI . NOW I NEED SOME HELP .Can the small "freeze plug in the main oil passage be leaking? I have NEVER had a plug leak and with checking some other builders including my Son who has built many T4 s for his own race car and many others . If this is a problem can I repair with "JB" weld? Please help, I hate to have to take this apart and start over. AL

[Superhawk996]

With that quantity of oil leaking (filling the guides) I would say it’s probably coming out under pressure (i.e a loose galley plug) or you have a massive leak at the base of a cylinder. Were the cylinder spigots checked to ensure they were all level?

FWIW - a leak that large won’t be solved with JB weld.

Part of building an engine is being willing to unbuild it if necessary to troubleshoot and fix an issue. It’s never fun but it’s how we learn.

When you say your running 50 psi - at what RPM and what temperature? 50 psi is high unless your spinning 4k-5k rpms or right at a cold start before oil and the case warm up.

Check inside spark plug holes - is tin oil coated up top?

Borescope above tin if you have one.