kastein
Member
- 495
- 26
- 18
- Location
- Southbridge MA
Just got my M54A2 (LDS465, etc) home after a drawn out blown head gasket saga and it looks like I have some oiling issues:
* the oil filter housings are definitely leaking oil badly. It took me 5 gallons of oil to make it from Mont Vernon NH to Southbridge MA, and I had to keep a very close eye on my oil pressure. The worst leak appears to be from the gasket around the banjo bolt head on the rear oil filter.
* oil pressure is about 30PSI operating, 45-55PSI cold. I'd like to see it higher, but I'm not sure what the spec is and I couldn't find it with a search... the -20 only said it should read 10-30 idling @ op temp, which it does (about 15-20.)
The leaks are probably because I had to reuse the old filter housing and bolt gaskets, as the new filters I bought from TNJMurray (Baldwin filters, I forget what part numbers - the elements fit fine) came with gaskets that just plain didn't fit and I had to get it home. Anyone know where I can get gaskets that *do* fit? If I can't find em, I'm going to order a new set of filters from Erik's and hope they fit, and if those don't fit either, I'm going to go with spin-on filters probably.
The oil pressure... I'm not sure. I really would like it to be higher, but I'm not used to the LDS465 yet, I'm used to 4.0L AMC/Jeep motors that idle at about 20 and run 40-50 at operating speed.
Tried to check the tech manual section for the other TMs I could maybe find this data in (I only downloaded the -20 and TM9-2320-209-34-2-1 back when the old forum was still accessible
) but for some reason it is sending me to the main forum menu instead of the tech manual section.
* the oil filter housings are definitely leaking oil badly. It took me 5 gallons of oil to make it from Mont Vernon NH to Southbridge MA, and I had to keep a very close eye on my oil pressure. The worst leak appears to be from the gasket around the banjo bolt head on the rear oil filter.
* oil pressure is about 30PSI operating, 45-55PSI cold. I'd like to see it higher, but I'm not sure what the spec is and I couldn't find it with a search... the -20 only said it should read 10-30 idling @ op temp, which it does (about 15-20.)
The leaks are probably because I had to reuse the old filter housing and bolt gaskets, as the new filters I bought from TNJMurray (Baldwin filters, I forget what part numbers - the elements fit fine) came with gaskets that just plain didn't fit and I had to get it home. Anyone know where I can get gaskets that *do* fit? If I can't find em, I'm going to order a new set of filters from Erik's and hope they fit, and if those don't fit either, I'm going to go with spin-on filters probably.
The oil pressure... I'm not sure. I really would like it to be higher, but I'm not used to the LDS465 yet, I'm used to 4.0L AMC/Jeep motors that idle at about 20 and run 40-50 at operating speed.
Tried to check the tech manual section for the other TMs I could maybe find this data in (I only downloaded the -20 and TM9-2320-209-34-2-1 back when the old forum was still accessible
) but for some reason it is sending me to the main forum menu instead of the tech manual section.
it made it home with some new belts and coolant but blew the head gasket several hundred miles later. For the last 10 months it has been parked 75 miles away at a friend's house and I have been taking a trip up every chance I get to fix it. Every single time, I found myself missing a part or a tool, and he lives out in the boonies so no way to get stuff without spending an hour... so basically every time I discovered something I needed, it meant I was coming back the next weekend (or in some cases, weeks later, due to the crazy snow we got and my work schedule.) Once I got it all back together I discovered that coolant had been slowly leaking from *somewhere* into the crankcase, and spent a long time cursing myself, the truck, my birth, and anything else I could think of before calming down a bit and determining that it was leaking from a water outlet manifold gasket on top of the head and getting in under the (not bolted down yet) valve covers. Drained the oil and filled it with used but clean oil, cranked it over a lot with no injectors in it to flush the coolant out (hopefully) without destroying the bearings... drained it again... no coolant came out this time so I ran it. This is when I discovered a knocking sound I wasn't sure had been there originally, and the low oil pressure, which is why I am quite worried now. I suspect the gauge is simply inaccurate but I am (for the reasons listed above) second guessing myself constantly now and extremely paranoid about the whole thing.
