The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 216 Oil Vent tube question

I have been searching for about 2hrs now and cannot find any info on how to remove the tube. I did see something that said it was a twist, but I tried and it did not budge. Mind you the entire side of the block has oil and gunk all over it. A friend of mine told me to clean the vent tube that the oil leaking by is from there or from the valve cover vents. Did the valve cover vents after I found them and now wanted to do the oil/fill vent tube.

Also he said to pull out the insides and soak it in gas. I probably sound stupid here but is there some place that has the description of pulling out the inners?

Thanks and like I said I am sorry if this was covered. I found multiple listings for rear seals and such just no reference to the vent tube.

You just need to tap on it/wiggle it, as it's just pressed into the hole. I'm sure it's just stuck, may need to get under and use a long stick or narrow board and tap that the a hammer. And usually they are full of crap, can soak it or have it boiled out at a machine shop.

And no in innards to not come out.

Useless information about that "oil vent tube":

In Shop Manuals, the tube is called a crankcase ventilator pipe

It is also more commonly called a road draft tube

from the Wikipedia - PCV
"Prior to the early 1960s, automobile petrol engines vented combustion gases directly to the atmosphere through a simple vent tube. Frequently, this consisted of a pipe (the "road draft tube") that extended out from the crankcase down to the bottom of the engine compartment. The bottom of the pipe was open to the atmosphere, and was placed such that when the car was in motion a slight vacuum would be hopefully obtained, helping to extract combustion gases as they collected in the crankcase. The oil mist would also be discharged, resulting in an oily film being deposited in the middle of each travel lane on heavily-used roads. The system was not positive though, as gases could travel both ways, or not move at all, dependent on conditions. Most modern diesel engines still use this type of system to dispose of crankcase fumes. During World War II however, a different type of crankcase ventilation had to be invented to allow tank engines to operate during deep fording operations, where the normal draft tube ventilator would have allowed water to enter the crankcase and destroy the engine. The PCV system and its control valve were invented to meet this need, but the need for it on automobiles was not recognized."

GM introduced a PCV system for truck engines in 1948 when it started selling Forward Control Chassis models to be made into delivery vans. There was little road draft for a door-to-door delivery van (milk, bread, etc) driving slowly and stopping at every house in a neighborhood.

So after much pulling and tapping I got the tube out. I was very surprised at how clean it was. Nothing at all looked like it had leaked from there. Now from what I read that is also the location to fill the engine with oil, except that I saw on top of my valve cover is the normal fill cap I would expect to see. I guess that confused me a bit. Anyway it appears that the oil is not coming from there, I actually wonder if it was coming from the old valve cover gasket I had on there prior to cleaning the cover and finding the vents in it and opening them for the first time.

Well hopefully tomorrow I will get the opportunity to fire it up again, now that the 1 ton is on the ground as a 1/2 ton.

What year 216 do you have?

If the engine came with an oil filler on the valve cover, the road draft tube most likely did not come with a filler cap. If there are vents in the valve cover, the filler cap is most likely a non-vented cap. However, over the years, any combination of styles of valve covers, filler caps, and road draft tubes might have been installed.

Well ended up pulling the truck out of the garage the other day and power washed the engine the best I could. When I drove it back into the garage it was clear the oil leak was coming from the front of the block. Just could not tell if it was the oil pan seal or further up.