5411

[Chris]

I have a 1981 Cat 30 with a 5411 engine. On top of my valve cover is a engine vent hose which leads and attaches to the air breather. Oil is comming out of this hose. Not alot but enough for it to drip into my engine compartment. Does anyone know why this is happening? What can be done to stop it?Thanks for any help!Chris Taylor

 

[jamie]

oil drip

Hi Chris you too ihave the same thing my neighbor athe the marina is a mechanic and he also has the same thing and he said it is just blow by and nothing to worry about as long as it is not real bad.AS i understand it the vapors are recycled from the cover back thru the air intake for reburning??

 

[Richard R]

breather drip

As Jamie said, it is normal for a very small amount of oil to come out of the breather on a healthy engine. The end that is not attached to the rocker cover should fit into a hole in the air filter canister. Normally the oil vapors are pulled into the intake manifold, and nothing drips into the engine compartment. I'd check to be sure the hose is not broken where it attaches to the rocker cover, or where it enters the filter. Generally you should not have enough oil vapors (called "blow-bye") coming through the breather to cause dripping. Excess blow-bye usually means worn piston rings, so you might want to have a mechanic do a compression check if the problem continues.

 

[Todd Osborne]

possible oil overfill

I read that the manuals for the 5411 overstated the amount of engine oil required (2.2 Qts). Supposedly the excess blows out through the breather hose.I would only suspect this to be the condition if you recently changed your oil.