kix

Well, it finally happened... OIL LEAK!!! I spent the all day diagnosing where the leak was happening only to find out I was looking at the wrong area. So after fixing the wrong area and turning on the car, I saw oil shooting out of a tiny hole in the Earls fitting. I'm thinking the leak is coming from a tiny hold in the earl's fitting. Its leaking on the Oil filter side but its hidden from view from my camera. The best picture I have to describe the hole is the one I have below.



Can anyone tell me what this hold is for? Can it be fixed without buying a new line/fitting? Please let me know... my car is stuck at my uncles place 60+ miles away

HiVolume

I don't know how familiar you are with fittings, so forgive me if this information is too obvious. Your photo isn't clear enough to understand where the leak is at. Perhaps draw a sketch in Microsoft Paint and send it in this thread?

Assuming your fittings aren't damaged:

An Earl's AN fitting that leaks at an AN-AN connection is either because it's not tight enough or there's crud not allowing it to tighten enough. NO white silicone tape should be used on AN threads. Silicone tape on AN threads WILL cause leaking. From your photo, it seems you put tape between the Earl's fitting and the golden fitting, which is no good.

If it's happening with an NPT type thread (for example, an NPT to AN female-female adapter which is connected to your oil sandwich), simply remove the NPT fitting, clean it properly and use silicone white sealant tape.

If the line is leaking at the red piece of the Earl's fitting (at either end of the red piece), the fitting needs to be re-installed onto the fitting as the stainless braided hose isn't fully seated into the fitting. When removing the line from the fitting, it's often necessary to trim 1/8" off the braided hose as it'll be slightly damaged. A belt sander or a grinder w/ buffer-pad work good to clean up the tip of the braided hose line.

Hope this info helps, but don't hesitate to post a sketch or ask any other questions.

I've got many Earl's fittings on my S2000 (oil, A/C, heater, turbo, water-air intercooler, engine coolant, intake manifold, etc) and have had quite a bit of experience with all the other cars at the shop.

samus143

I had the same problem with my Comptech oil return line fitting, I over tightened the fitting at the drain plug adapter and it made a hairline crack in the AN fitting and dripped oil all over my driveway.

I cleaned and dried the fitting real good, sealed the entire area with some gasket maker, taped the area up and let it sit until it cured.

It worked for me until I got my new fitting 2 days later. I hope this helps since I see you may be leaking from a high pressure source, best thing to do is to get a new fitting and not take a chance.

-Sam

kix

Ah,sorry for my laziness... macs dont have MSPAINT... here's where the leak is occuring.

jzz30

that hole is where they insert the retaining pin so that the fitting can swivel. that is probably not the source of your leak

NFRs2000NYC

Crap, I'm gonna start checking mine more often. I check my oil level everyday, but I will have to look at it more closely from now on! Let us know of your steps to correct this problem.

kix

I think the leak is actually happening there. The oil leak when I had my car on came out in a stream (like a stream flowing out of a coffee straw).


I found some schematics of how EARL fittings are designed. It seems "Earls Original and Exclusive dual pane anti-seepage sealing system" failed on me which is causing the leak from that hole.


Does anyone know what hose size/AN size the greddy relocation kit uses? I'm thinking of ordering a replacement part to get my car up and running again.

kix

Do you have an oil pressure guage? If not, GET ONE... I think mine just paid for itself. From what I observed today, you will lose 1quart of oil a minute if you have a similar leak to this. Unfortunately mine happened on the freeway and I saw my pressure drop from 30 psi to 10 by the time I got off the freeway (all under 2000rpm coasting where I could). I'm HOPING nothing happened... I had a lil over 1 quart left in the oil pan and didn't hear any abnormal noises so I think I'm good... just kinda sucks because now I dont feel comfortable taking the s2k on long trips anymore

Chris_Lum

wow scary. i need to get an oil pressure gauge!

NFRs2000NYC

Does anyone know of a thin profile gauge? I already have 2 gauges in my pillar, and have no place to put another one.