2004 Dodge Viper Gen 3 - lost oil

[DRionero]

Greetings. I recently had the misfortune of loosing all my engine oil. I noticed a slight drip on the passenger side, lower half of the engine for about a month. In the last days I went for a ride and upon returning home oil pressure was fluctuating and I discovered an oil path on the pavement. Oberservations: 1. oil wetness on engine lower half only, dry underhood. 2. oil wetness was concentrated at the oil filter. 3. Removed filter, found it to be non OEM, torqued properly, no seal damage, no crack in filter. 4. No noticeable damage to oil filter adapter.

Current strategy is to install OEM filter and replace oil. Crank engine slowly and watch for leaks, Vehicle is still on jack stands for easy inspection.

Please consider sharing if anyone has had a similar experience and would appreciate any guidance prior to me recranking the engine.

Thanks David

 

[SA HEAT]

Sounds more like an oil cooler line. Check the lines above the filter and around the engine block.

 

[DRionero]

Thanks for your reply. The oil cooler line connections at the oil cooler are dry, they are wet at the engine side. with thee filter off there were no noticeable defects in the lines. Recognizing there could be a hairline crack in the lines which is hard to detect. Should I remove the 2 oil cooler lines and attempt to pressurize with air to verify integrity? Or is it easier and less evasive to leave them installed and install new filter and oil and crank and monitor?

 

[SA HEAT]

I'll let others chime in, but from what I've seen the hoses likely won't have visible signs of cracking or damage.....they'll just leak at the connections. That said, I believe catastrophic leaks have been pretty much non-existent or at least very rare as the tend to just drip or seep.

 

[MoparMap]

I would look toward the cooler lines as well. I replaced mine some time ago with lines I made at home and the fittings failed at the swivels causing a similar leak. I got to work one day when it was wet outside and when I went to back out I saw the rainbow puddle under my car. Certainly more noticeable since it was wet out, but unnerving nonetheless. Bought a set of premade lines after that and haven't seen any issues since. I have heard the crimps are the failure point, so not sure you'd see any faults visibly until it's running. I don't think it would hurt to run the engine while watching to see if you notice drips, just make sure to top it off first.

 

[DRionero]

Thank you all for your insight. I have a hard time believing the filter leaked, the seal was still ******, untorn, stamping of the filter had no cracks or blemishes. The car is 20 years old and it is directionally correct to replace soft parts with fresh parts

 

[MambaK100]

My '04 also leaks very slightly at the crimps on both fittings at the oil cooler. Very small leak, but I bought new OEM lines (they were very not cheap!) to plan for replacing eventually. It only has 8k miles but it's the age and from what I have read the crimps were crappy to begin with which means even the new lines could prematurely leak too. I drive my Viper very little and not far from home mostly to local area car shows so not really too worried at this point. However it is quite concerning that yours seem to be leaking so profusely. Maybe add some UV dye to the oil, run it, then with a UV light you can determine the source of the leak...

 

[Dyno Dave]

I have seen filters form a hairline crack in the rolled seam where the can meets the top. A lot of testing was done on oil filters and SRT came out with their own filter. My second choice would be a Wix gold. I believe they have been purchased by Mann but still should be a good choice.

 

[Viper Specialty]

Easy answer is clean it up, fill with oil, run it, and watch. Everything else is just guessing.