Hello. This is for a '51 Chevy 1/2 -ton 216 straight 6.
My truck has one of those bypass oil filters that bolts onto the intake manifold. The other day I removed the screw-top lid from the canister to get a part number off the filter element (I did lift out the filter element (unnecessarily) in the course of doing this). Today I started the truck and noticed oil leaking from the very top of the canister lid, where the lid's wing-nut type handle screws onto the threaded rod in the center of the canister. I assumed maybe I didn't properly seat the element, or didn't get the lid screwed on properly the other day. So I unscrewed the wingnut on top, and oil flowed profusely over the top of the canister (big mess), as if I had released built-up pressure.
My theory is that somehow the oil filter canister outlet is blocked, perhaps by grunge that I released from the element, or from bad reassembly, and the oil is not circulating, but being pressured up inside the canister. I would like to restart the truck and observe the oil pressure gauge but then I'd to wait again for pressure to subside. Maybe I'll do that anyway.
I think this should be fairly easy to figure out once I can open things up, but I wonder if anybody else has experienced this, and if so, what can you teach me?
Thanks!
