I changed the engine in the '96 a month or so ago, among the new things i put on (used a junkyard motor) were a new front and rear crank seal, new high- voulume oil pump, pan gasket ( of course) and new remote oil lines for the filter and cooler. Havent drove it much but noticed after about 30 miles of useage its leaking oil between the lines and where they join to the adaptor on the engine. The lines came from autozone, gasket seemed to just be thin o-rings in a aluminum peice. Apparently i need a better gasket, the one at the filter to the oil cooler is the same gasket but is holding. Not sure if the high pressure oil pump could have caused the problem or if it just one of those strange failures. Engine has over 200k miles, so its not like ive got so much oil pressure that it could blow seals out. Seems like the original seals were a thick paper gasket. Anyone else have issues with a leak in this spot with new parts? Its a 4wd so fixing the leak now isnt as easy as it was to install the new parts (when the engine was on a stand) any thoughts/ideas? Im thinking of going with gm gaskets, not going with another autozone set.

 

The aluminum framed O rings are the heavy duty seals. You can not reuse them and they need to be torqued to 26 foot pounds. Too much or too little and they will leak.

 

Be sure that you check the gasket that goes between the block and the adapter. I put the gasket up on top of the adapter and it had some kind of plastic film on both sides of it. The film makes it just thick enough that the o-ring on the outside of the adapter doesn't seal properly and it looks like it's leaking oil from the remote line block. I searched all over to find the information but once I fixed it the problem was fixed for good.

 

Crap-that could be my problem, i never actually used a tourque wrench there, just tightened them down good...

 

Yeah, you most likely over tightened them, I would pick up some new ones as these were probably damaged. and use a torque wrench.

 

I had a similar problem. I had to do mine three times to get it right!

The winning combination ended up being a block-to-adapter gasket from a GM dealer (the autozone brand I bought first leaked), and the Dorman brand of lines-to-adapter gasket. The little o-rings that came in the autozone kit alongside the block-to-adapter gasket lasted me about five miles before failing catastrophically!

Although, others on here have used them without any problems. I probably over torqued them. I did WAY more than the 26 lbs-ft it calls for. I just ran them down tight. I was more careful with the second set.

This is a job you really don't want to more than once, so get the best parts the first time!

 

In the 94-96 Chevy Impala SS world, they are only two good choices for the oil filter adapter to the block gasket set. The OEM GM product and the Fel Pro pro grade or up grade gasket set. The Fel Pro version features a unique 'square' O ring as opposed to round as most O rings are. I am speaking of the O ring cross section if you cut one in half. This square O ring seems to seal better with few leaks. Look at the Fel Pro version and try it.

 

The cheapy round seals that come with the kit work fine,Just tighten them like you do with a oil filter. tighten till snug,then another turn or 2. Have someone start it up while u watch it. if it leaks,tighten till it stops,in another half turn.

 

Got the seals from gm, metal-framed o-rings. Wondering if some hi- temp rtv would be a extra measure of "good insurance" or if just torquing to spec and leaving be as intended is the way to go.

 

I'm not a big fan of rtv for places that don't call for it. The factory didn't put it on there, so that's how I would keep it. Just don't over torque it, and you should be good to go.