d69u oil problem

[quote="motway"]ok ive been searching around the internet and this site seems to be the most informative.

so i bought a d69u ran it for a day and started to notice a problem. first started when i ran it, it was getting hot so i shut it down for a few hours, came back checked the oil and noticed none on the dip stick. got 2 gallons of oil and to my amazement it took all of it. filled it while it was running to the full level on dip stick. started ruiing it a little and noticed oil coming out ofa differnt dip stick. im not sure what the other dip stick is to the left or the engine oil dip stick. is it the oil clutch? in any case the engine ils is draining as soon as i start this thing to the area to the left. almost instantly it will drain whatever i put in and if i pull the dip stick on the left it will come running out. anyone know what might cause this? serial number is 9u24459

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Welcome to the forum. I believe that is the oil clutch dip stick. Should be one higher up for the pony motor. I'm sure someone will chime in with why it is pushing engine oil to the oil clutch. Is this your first Cat? If so there are some do's and don'ts on starting with pony and proper shutdown of pony along with many other operating do's to keep your machine healthy and working. Will not get into great detail until we hear more about your level. If you have books read them. If not get an operators manual and read it to save you a ton of money.
Edit: On another look at the pictures it looks like the pony has been removed and it is converted to direct start. Must be late.

Hey Motway,

I check oils at idle on a warmed up engine, usually right before I shut down an engine. Cold levels may show to add oil, but warm oil may show over full. Oil expands a lot when warm. On my 14-a it is almost 1 to 1-1/2 gallon difference from warm to cold. Where did you add the oil? Was it in the filler spout below the breather? I can't explain why it came out there, must be overfilled in that compartment.

Yes the pony motor has been removed its electric start now. I have checked this oil warm and cold running and not. It's definitely going into the oil clutch. Before I added 2 gallons the oil clutch wasn't over flowing. Then I noticed the engine oil was low when I checked it while running. Not even on the dip stick. I added 2 gal it came up on the dip stick to almost the full mark. Ran it for 30 min oil was gone not even on the dip stick any more. So I got another gal. Added it the same way. Came up just a little over the low mark and then quickly dissapeared. Like within 10-20 seconds. I pulled the oil clutch dip stick and it came flowing up out and all over the ground.

Unless it was added, there is no seal between oil clutch and engine sumps. The rear main "seal" is a screw thread area on the crankshaft that "winds" the oil back into the engine through a drain port on the rear main bearing assembly. It is possible this port is plugged with sludge etc and will have to be cleaned out (through inspection covers on right side of engine block??), but first remove the crankcase breather and clean it to ensure there is no excessive crankcase pressure pushing oil through the rear main bearing into the oil clutch.

If worse comes to worst and you cannot fix it any other way, you could rig an overflow from the fill port of oil clutch back to the engine crankcase so the oil would not be lost. In case you are horrified by this idea, CAT graders used a similar design for a number of years in the late 50's and early 60's as they introduced oil clutches into their lineup. We own a 12E with the D333 engine that is of that type.

Thanks for all that info. So if the port on the back of the engine is blocked do you think it could pump 2 gal into the clutch in a min or two through the bearing? I'm asking because with a cold engine that's been sitting over night if I add 2 gal and start it up by the time I get back to the eng oil dip stick the oil is gone. And if I shut it down right away and let it rest it never comes back.

Thanks for all that info. So if the port on the back of the engine is blocked do you think it could pump 2 gal into the clutch in a min or two through the bearing? I'm asking because with a cold engine that's been sitting over night if I add 2 gal and start it up by the time I get back to the eng oil dip stick the oil is gone. And if I shut it down right away and let it rest it never comes back.

The lube system on that engine is a very high volume but low pressure design with pressure limited to a maximum of 30 psi. A couple gallons in a couple minutes does seem unlikely, but you don't mention low oil pressure problems. The engine has an external oil manifold, so I believe it probably does not have a main oil gallery that might be leaking directly into the clutch. Each main bearing oil passage feeds off of the external manifold and some of them connect to camshaft bearings and then 2 would feed up to the deck where there are grommets sealing the oil passages to the head to supply the rocker arm shafts and rockers and then dribbling back down the push rods to lubricate the cam followers and camshaft lobes.

So, I think the rear main crankshaft bearing is the only real possibility for a source of leakage into the clutch. I cannot see for sure, but the camshaft bore may be a possibility if the gasket between the block and the clutch housing has failed. Again, this is fed by the external oil manifold, so the flow might be limited enough that oil pressure could be maintained even if the plug in the end of the camshaft bore was leaking.

It appears that access to the rear main bearing cap with the drain back hole is blocked by the rear suction bell, so you would have to drop the pan to get to it. Access from the side covers is not likely possible no matter how flexible you are.

There was a field addition kit to install a true oil seal on the rear main or really the crankshaft flange I think. This was an option when operation on steep slopes caused oil to transfer to flywheel housing. Maybe someone else has some information on that.