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Ward LaFrance oil leak


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All;

Lets just say someone was watching over me on Monday. I was down at the steam asscociation where the Ward's are stored and I was in the process of moving them back into the building where they are stored. I started both trucks up without issues and went about moving some tractors around to make room for the trucks. As I was walking back towards the series 5, I noticed white smoke coming from underneath the truck in the area of the cab. I got back up into the cab and did not hear any abnormal nosies and I checked the gauges and the oil pressure gauge was showing ZERO :wow:.

I shut the truck down and walked over to the passenger side of the truck and observed the running board and gas tank were covered in oil. I suspected that the oil line from the block to the gauge had burst and my suspicions were confirmed when I opened the hood.

On Tuesday, I proceeded to replace the line. Before doing so, I put 3 gallons of oil in the crankcase (the engine holds 4) which brought the dipstick up over to the full mark to compensate for the oil filters to be filled up once the engine is running. I cranked the engine over without the ignition on and nothing unusual was heard. I then started the truck and the oil presuure shot right up to 40 psi. I heard the oil shooting out of the broken line, shut the truck down and proceeded with the repair.

 

So the lesson learned here is, anything can happen at anytime, if any line looks suspect REPLACE it. The flex line was brittle, it broke into 2 pieces when I removed it, but it looked O.K. at a passing glance. Always check your gauges, as the result of not doing so, could be catostraphic.

 

As stated, when I was walking towrds my truck when I observed the smoke, I was on the passenger side and I did not observe the oil on the running board, so the line was leaking prior to my arrival but must have burst when I got into the cab.

 

As you can see in the attached pictures, the oil ine was originally placed between the fuel line and the block.

 

 

John G

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Edited by 42 chevy
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Our dodge wc54 decided to split the fabric braided oil line to the filter as we were going around the m25 at the m40 junction, we had good oil pressure but I could see the view out the back was getting hazy and my eyes were starting to burn, when I let off the throttle and killed the ignition to coast to the side across the extra four lanes oil poured into the cab from the floor plates. When we had a look the pipe had been chaffing on the dip stick but with the engine turning over with the starting handle the oil wouldn't show the leak, consequently I changed out all the flexible lines just to be sure.

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