93 Carry All 2 oil leak

[Firefarm]

I recently purchased a 93 Carryall 2. There is a black rubber plug on the top of the engine towards the clutch side under the starter that is bouncing up and blowing out oil. What is that plug for and is there any way to fix it?

[CP241]

Can you post a picture? Sounds like the dipstick tube?

[Firefarm]

Not the dipstick tube. It’s just above the oil pressure sensor.

[Fairtax4me]

It's a hole plug. If you can clean it well enough you may be able to glue it back in with some RTV. Usually replacement is the best option.

If it's the one with the wire for the oil level switch, that ones a bit more complicated because the wire goes inside the engine. You pretty much just clean that one as well as you possibly can and use RTV to seal it back in place. Replacement of that one requires removing the engine.

[CP241]

Originally Posted by Fairtax4me

It's a hole plug. If you can clean it well enough you may be able to glue it back in with some RTV. Usually replacement is the best option.

If it's the one with the wire for the oil level switch, that ones a bit more complicated because the wire goes inside the engine. You pretty much just clean that one as well as you possibly can and use RTV to seal it back in place. Replacement of that one requires removing the engine.

Strange... Not doubting your expertise because you certainly know more than I, but something must have changed over the years. I just went out and checked, I have 2 1998 motors (a FE290 and a FE350), a 2002 FE350, and a 2013 FE350. None of them have a plug there, they're all flat. The only one that isn't flat is the FE290 but on the inside of the case, it doesn't go through; the inside is cast and sealed. HAve to wonder what originally was supposed to be there that they deleted over the years.

I would clean the entire area REALLY well with brake cleaner and compressed air. Make sure there is a plug there, if so then remove it. Clean the plug and the inside of the casting where it sits really really well with brake cleaner. I would skip the RTV and just JB-Weld the thing back in place. Maybe even go a step further and fill the entire top of it with JB weld as well so it's smooth like the newer castings are. It's not necessary for anything so may as well make the seal permanent.


Worst case if it doesn't work, you could replace the engine side cover with one from a newer motor where that hole doesn't exist. I'm sure if it's leaking from there, the case gasket isn't in the best of health either... Side cover gasket and the dipstick tube o-ring are the most common places I've seen these leak oil from.

[Fairtax4me]

It's really only the older motors that have that hole open. I'm not sure why that hole was machined other than maybe for some other type of dipstick tube that was used on other applications than the golf cart. Nobody really built motors specifically for golf carts until kinda recently. Majority of the older stuff was industrial or power equipment engines that were built for multiple purposes and were slightly re-configured to fit into golf carts. Much like people do with Big block swaps these days.

[Firefarm]

Pulled the plug and it’s just a rubber 3/4” plug about an inch long and it’s just hard and brittle. Cleaned the hole up good and bought an expandable freeze plug and tightened it down. No leaks. Thanks for the advice. Was just kinda scared to pull it out. Didn’t know if it served any purpose.

[CP241]

Originally Posted by Firefarm

Pulled the plug and it’s just a rubber 3/4” plug about an inch long and it’s just hard and brittle. Cleaned the hole up good and bought an expandable freeze plug and tightened it down. No leaks. Thanks for the advice. Was just kinda scared to pull it out. Didn’t know if it served any purpose.

Good idea, that should work fine. There's plenty of clearance down below where that plug is, so shouldn't be any interference from any moving parts.

Just to be safe, I would clean it all up really well with brake cleaner just to make sure nothing else is leaking