Technical Need help diagnosing oil leak

[ChromaticBattle]

I have a 1977 Fiat x1/9 with a major oil leak. It is a 1.3l i4 soch Carb. From what I can tell it is from a head bolt and possibly the head gasket on the intake side of the engine. The oil sprays up on the hood and all over the air filter as well as anything else in the vicinity. It leaks nearly all the oil put into it within a half hour of running. The engine itself is extremely loud and that is not from the exhaust so I am wondering if I have failing gaskets or if the bolts are tightened to the proper specs or if it’s a cylinder head/engine block problem. Any guidence on this would be much appreciated.

 

[olliefromuk]

If it's spraying that far up in the engine bay I'd guess it's the cam rocker cover, they are cheap, if it is, make sure you get the cork gasket as the rubber ones are a pain..

 

[ChromaticBattle]

If it's spraying that far up in the engine bay I'd guess it's the cam rocker cover, they are cheap, if it is, make sure you get the cork gasket as the rubber ones are a pain..

Ill check it out, Thanks for the the help.

 

[F123C]

Iirc, there's a rubber hose that connects the crankcase breather with the underneath of the air cleaner housing. This hose can become detached or split and result in the leakage of a lot of oil.

If oil is being sprayed everywhere then oil is probably getting on to something that rotates, probably the camshaft pulley, and being flung off. As well as the cam cover gasket mentioned above, I'd suggest checking the camshaft oil seal behind the cam pulley.

If oil has gotten onto the timing belt, it will need to be renewed urgently.

There are no oil feeds up the bolt holes in the cylinder head- so leak is unlikely to be coming from a loose head bolt.

Best procedure would be to clean down the engine, top up the oil if required, run the engine and observe where the oil leak starts.

My money is on the breather hose being the problem....

AL.

 

[Skillmaker]

And to reiterate what F123C said: If oil got onto the cam belt, replace it ASAP.

The 1300 Fiat SOHC engine is an interference engine. If the cam belt slips or breaks, the valves in the engine will SLAM into the pistons, causing catastrophic consequences.

 

[ChromaticBattle]

Iirc, there's a rubber hose that connects the crankcase breather with the underneath of the air cleaner housing. This hose can become detached or split and result in the leakage of a lot of oil.

If oil is being sprayed everywhere then oil is probably getting on to something that rotates, probably the camshaft pulley, and being flung off. As well as the cam cover gasket mentioned above, I'd suggest checking the camshaft oil seal behind the cam pulley.

If oil has gotten onto the timing belt, it will need to be renewed urgently.

There are no oil feeds up the bolt holes in the cylinder head- so leak is unlikely to be coming from a loose head bolt.

Best procedure would be to clean down the engine, top up the oil if required, run the engine and observe where the oil leak starts.

My money is on the breather hose being the problem....

AL.

And to reiterate what F123C said: If oil got onto the cam belt, replace it ASAP.

The 1300 Fiat SOHC engine is an interference engine. If the cam belt slips or breaks, the valves in the engine will SLAM into the pistons, causing catastrophic consequences.

There is a badly cracked hose so I’ll check and see if it’s coming from there. And I’ll check the belt aswell. I had no idea a failing camshaft could ruin the pistons in this engine, I’ll keep that in mind.
The oil also pools on the head bolt and as the oil sits on the bolt you can see bubbles coming from under the bolt. That’s why I assumed the leak is from around that area. The oil is sprayed directly above this bolt onto the hood and intake but it could just be a coincidence. Chances are several things are all failing at once. I will check an see what I can find.
Thanks for all the help guys.