Hi, my 1998 cat 345bl is blowing oil out the dipstick tube when I am angled back. It doesn't do it when tipped forward any kind of advice to get it to stop happening would be appreciated. It started on fire twice today with oil blowing on the exhaust manifold. I'm kinda scared to run it now as where I'm digging requires going up and down slopes. Thanks in advance for the advice.
Is the crankcase vent clear? If its plugged or restricted the crankcase will vent out any way it can, usually through the dipstick tube. If oil reaches the bottom of the tube, crankcase pressure will force oil out tube.
It was probably in the dirt. Is there any harm in cutting the breather tube off inside the engine compartment.
It will just make a mess in the engine compartment. How many hours do you have on the engine? Usually when the motor starts getting tired it develops more blow by. As I recall the dipstick tube goes through the hole in the block and down into the pan. Also as I recall the engine has a shallow pan and it doesn't take much inclination of the machine for the tube to end up below the oil level and the pressure blowing it out the tube.
It only has about 7500hrs on it and it runs strong. It has been doing it since I got it with around 4000 hours on it. I'm pretty sure the breather tube being plugged when it happens is the issue. It pretty much only happens when I'm digging in muck and the machine sinks up to the counterweight. I'm going to have someone tip it up while I watch see if we can replicate the problem on nice level ground, after I wash out the fire extinguisher juice.
So I cut off the blow by tube below the oil pan and drained the extra three gallons of engine oil it had in it. It seems to be working just fine now, with no more oil collecting on the top side of the engine.
How did it get an extra 3 gallons of oil in it?
One of the guys just changed it sitting on an angle and he filled it to the full mark.