Oil Drip blues.....

[dogmuddybuddy]

Ok folks after another funfilled weekend of replacing the oilpan gasket I still have a drip.... insert 4 letter word here

This is the second time I have done the oil pan gasket this year...I went slow used good gasket and that CURIL gasket sealer good stuff. Checked for dimples and went S L O W.

So now I think it is the front seal??

I had the head a front timing cover machined this spring on an upper rebuild but I think it is that round front seal...its tough to tell where it comes from (because its on the front) and drips off the round part of lower gear directly above the front center oil pan bolt below where the fan comes out and then runs along where the oil pan meets the block.....I mean the oil (drip) blows around when driving under load.....

WHAT IS WEIRD IS:

I can lay on my back under the motor looking up under the car running on my back for 20 minutes and no drip...only when driving ...its tough to diagnose.

Any suggestions has anyone had experience with this??

NG UP FRONT OF MOTOR

TIA Kevin

[jgerock]

Your front timing cover may be cracked.

OR your front main seal is bad.

[SteveJ]

Usually, you have to clean the bejezus out of everything, then drive for a while to see where the leak is coming from. But, you are dealing with wind that will blow stuff around. Most times I will clean stuff up, drive it around, and never get back in there to see where it came from. Start over.

Let's list the normal oil leaks for an M10 motor-

(the only order is as they drop out of my brain and onto the keyboard)

Oil pan gasket

lower timing cover side seals

upper timing cover side seals

corners of the timing covers where they meet each other in front of the cyl head.

front crank seal

rear crank seals

distributor o-ring

Distrib housing gasket

exhaust studs

Timing chain tensioner

valve cover gasket

cracked breather hose from valve cover

oil filler cap seal

The rear main seals will usually just drip straight down from the trans bell housing. The exhaust studs will usually give you burning oil smells, as may the distrib seals.

My experience is that synthetic oils will leak out of smaller gaps than regular oil will.

[Collinster742002]

Looks like the front main seal to me; I'll snap a pic of what they look like tomorrow if I get a chance.

Personally my distributor housing is leaking and rendering the car useless- Smells like CRAP. The front crank seal seems like it would be much less nerve racking to change out than a rear main seal per say- seeing as you don't have to put it all back and hope all is well. I recently did a timing job on a 98 volvo with my ignoramus brother who used DECK SCREWS to try to extract cam seals. The result was $1400 and 2 new cams.

In your case, I'd say just change that seal, be careful, and go from there. Doesn't look to be leaking too bad.