2012 ezgo st sport 2+2 robin 352 oil blowing everywhere!

[kawasakilewis]

Hi all, first post here, new to golf carts but not new to engines in any way. So I’ll start by saying I just bought an ezgo st sport 2+2, 2012, eh352c engine, all stock, I brought it home and rode it a few miles and it was all good, I turned the governor up a little bit, changed the oil with 1.5qt of Mobil one full synthetic 10-30, and threw two new spark plugs in it. Rode it around for probably 10 miles and all was good. Then I checked the valves, cold, off cam lobes, set to .004. All was good starts and runs good, rode it probably another 3 miles or so. Then last night I took it out the road and back probably 2 miles total and I smelled oil, stopped and pulled the seat and there was oil covering EVERYTHING and it was a quart low on oil and it was dripping off everywhere. Put it in neutral and ran it for a second or so and tried to see where it was spraying out of and couldn’t spot the leak. Degreased and washed everything to a nice dry engine, topped off the oil so I could locate the leak, then I got on it at rode it about 100ft at a time and kept pulling the seat every 100ft and checking for leaks with it in neutral and running and couldn’t see any signs of leakage. Then I pulled the seat and it was just warm enough to start evaporating the water puddle off the top of the muffler, rode it a few feet and pulled the seat and oil was everywhere again, it just explodes oil everywhere. Seemed to be coming from the fan side and the fan was blowing it around and it was dripping off the passenger side rear corner of the engine, but I couldn’t see where it was coming from. Doesn’t leak a drop until warm then it explodes. The crankcase breather vents into the intake and the intake is dry. I have a video Ill try and upload, but I’ll add a picture screenshot of a bubble, but the 4 bolt plate on the passenger side of the head had oil bubbling from the one bolt but other than that I couldn’t see any signs of where the oil may be coming from. Anyone have any suggestions? I don’t even know where to begin with this thing. Tried a ton of internet searching and can’t find any situation like mine. Thanks in advance.

[newtjl]

Could be leaking out of the fan side crank seal, then getting slung everywhere by the fan and flywheel. It does seem like a bit of an extreme case for a crank seal though. Could be leaking out of the oil pump too. Only good way to track it down is probably going to be engine removal, removing the shroud, then the flywheel to see what you have.

[big mule]

Good chance it is coming from a failed gasket on the crankcase cover,I've had pretty much the same thing happen and it was from the cover gasket being "sucked" or falling into the crankcase (approx 2" long portion on top right behind fan shroud).Post back and let us know what you find .

[kawasakilewis]

The thing that confuses me is until it’s warm it doesn’t leak a drop, and when it does leak it’s everywhere almost instantly, and then after it’s everywhere I can’t tell at all where it’s coming from. Would it hurt Or would I be able to pull the shroud and the fan off and then just run it in neutral until it leaks so it’s not slinging it with the fan?

[big mule]

Originally Posted by kawasakilewis

The thing that confuses me is until it’s warm it doesn’t leak a drop, and when it does leak it’s everywhere almost instantly, and then after it’s everywhere I can’t tell at all where it’s coming from. Would it hurt Or would I be able to pull the shroud and the fan off and then just run it in neutral until it leaks so it’s not slinging it with the fan?

I don't think it would hurt to run just a few minutes with the shroud removed but wouldn't run it any longer than needed to diagnose the leak .

[kawasakilewis]

So I just discovered my crank seal was out against the fan/flywheel, the question is how did it get like that, and should I replace it. I got it pushed back in with screwdrivers and pry bars

[kawasakilewis]

Here is the seal. It was pushing out when hot and blowing oil out, shrinking back in slightly and sealing up when cold. Never seen anything like it. Crazy. My stupid luck.

[big mule]

Originally Posted by kawasakilewis

Here is the seal. It was pushing out when hot and blowing oil out, shrinking back in slightly and sealing up when cold. Never seen anything like it. Crazy. My stupid luck.

Never seen that on a 4 stroke ,wonder if it has a lot of compression blowing past the rings & pressurizing the crankcase?

[newtjl]

I have seen two different things blow them out like that. 1. A big backfire or a lot of little ones. This is more common on the two strokes, but I suppose its possible on a 4 stroke. Have you had any backfires? 2. A carb malfunction filled up the crankcase with gasoline. The gas had to go somewhere when the engine cranked over so it went out the crankcase breather, the vent tubes on the carb, and blew out a crank seal for some extra venting.

[kawasakilewis]

So it doesn’t seem to have any abnormal crankcase pressure. I compression tested it and I’ve got 160lbs on both cylinders so it doesn’t have any blow by. Oil was not over full or didn’t smell like gas and I could tell it was old oil so it’s not getting gas in the crankcase. Starts easy, runs perfect, doesn’t backfire, and the spark plugs are a nice color. No idea what could have caused it. It was not real hard to push back in so I wonder if it just worked it’s way out somehow. I ordered a spare seal to keep on hand and I peened the outside edge a little bit to help hold it in. We’ll see what happens I guess.