Help: Oil on the pedals and drivers floor mat

[olouieo]

My floor mat seem slippery, at first I thought maybe I steeped on some oil, but I cleaned it. Today I saw some more on the pedals, My first thought is maybe is the oil gauge line. I am not sure. Well it got dark and I could not search anymore. Is there anything else it could be or do you think is the oil gauge line. If yes. Is it easy or difficult fix? Thanks.

[lone73]

It's most likely the oil gauge line. It could have a kink in it or be leaking at the connection at the back of the gauge. You'll have to take enough screws out to tilt the center cluster rearward to access the back of the gauge.

For the ultimate fix you could do as I did. Replace the entire thing with an electronic gauge from a '75 up. Swap gauge faces. I oiled my stereo just once too often, got fed up with it.

good luck
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[tomtom72]

Just my two cents, but if the oil line was leaking at the back of the gauge wouldn't you notice it when the motor is running, even just idling? Doesn't that line have a rubber sleeve where it goes thru the fire wall? I would think if it was leaking at any point inside the car that there would be lots of oil everywhere. If the car does not have P/B I would check the back of the M/C, sometimes that seal goes bad, and fluid runs back into the passenger compartment. I don't know if the car had P/B if the fluid would make it into the pass. compt., I had man. brakes on my 72. I would think that a 350/350 would have the same oil preassure as my car, 35 PSI at idle when hot. That's gotta be a lot of oil spraying around. I assume the fluid is dark in color, I mean coolant is also slippery. tt72

[vettepilot]

My floor mat seem slippery, at first I thought maybe I steeped on some oil, but I cleaned it. Today I saw some more on the pedals, My first thought is maybe is the oil gauge line. I am not sure. Well it got dark and I could not search anymore. Is there anything else it could be or do you think is the oil gauge line. If yes. Is it easy or difficult fix? Thanks.

Contrary to what most people assume, the oil pressure sending line doesn't flow a huge volume of oil, dispite the pressure readings. It barely dribbles out when the engine is running, so looking for oil spray or mist to isolate the source will not work. Look instead for small, regularly timed trips, and the oil is usually not very dirty because once that line is full, and has no trapped air, it doesn't circulate with the rest of the engine oil, but remains in that line. Yes you may get some dark coloration if you have a leak in the line because the engine oil will continue to feed the line, thus replacing the clean oil, but for the most part it will remain clean oil.
Somebody already mentioned the possibility of the master cylinder rear seal seeping, that would be where I would begin looking also. If you have power brakes, then the booster would not allow the seeping to go further back than the booster tank.
Somebody also mentioned coolant, there are no coolant lines on the drivers side that could provide a source for a seep or leak inside the vehicle.
Just checking for one other possibility, have you recently lubricated the clutch and/or brake pedal pivot points? If so, that could be the source, over zealous oiling.

vettepilot