Lets play "Name That Oil Leak!"

[Denji]

Can anyone NAME THAT OIL LEAK? picture below, any information on what is leaking here, and or how to fix it, what is involved/why it happened would be greatly appreciated, thank you dsm community!

 

[travislaw]

There is a good possibility it is just your oil pan leaking. To know for sure, go to NAPA and ask them for the oil additive that glows with the black light. Thoroughly clean the underside of your car. You put the additive in your oil and run the car for about a week. Then get under there with a black light and you will be able to see where it is coming from because it will glow and you just follow the glowing path of oil.

 

[Denji]

There is a good possibility it is just your oil pan leaking. To know for sure, go to NAPA and ask them for the oil additive that glows with the black light. Thoroughly clean the underside of your car. You put the additive in your oil and run the car for about a week. Then get under there with a black light and you will be able to see where it is coming from because it will glow and you just follow the glowing path of oil.

I appreciate it, but i can see the gasket in the circled area, and oil is leaking out of it, its from there, i just dont know what that oil leak would be referred to as.

 

[GTM]

Can anyone NAME THAT OIL LEAK? picture below, any information on what is leaking here, and or how to fix it, what is involved/why it happened would be greatly appreciated, thank you dsm community!

Looks like either your oil cooler or oil filter base mounting gasket. There are lots of reports the bolts work loose and may require repairing threads. You could try to torque to specs and see if that slows it down. Before taking it apart have the new gaskets so you can fix it rather than having the car apart and then wait a week for them to arrive. It's also not uncommon for the oil filter adapter threaded sleeve to work loose and unscrew from the base. Clean the parts of oil and use the RTV on the threads.

If you know how to make gaskets so much the better, clean all the mating faces, smear a very thin film of silicon /RTV on the gaskets and assemble. You don't want any sealer to squish into any passages.

Let us know what you find and fix.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[Denji]

Looks like either your oil cooler or oil filter base mounting gasket. There are lots of reports the bolts work loose and may require repairing threads. You could try to torque to specs and see if that slows it down. Before taking it apart have the new gaskets so you can fix it rather than having the car apart and then wait a week for them to arrive. It's also not uncommon for the oil filter adapter threaded sleeve to work loose and unscrew from the base. Clean the parts of oil and use the RTV on the threads.

If you know how to make gaskets so much the better, clean all the mating faces, smear a very thin film of silicon /RTV on the gaskets and assemble. You don't want any sealer to squish into any passages.

Let us know what you find and fix.

Cheers,
GTM

Okay, i appreciate the response, i really think it has something more to do with a crank seal or something like that, its not just deposited where the red circle is, it is actually coming out that gap in the circle, i can visibly see a worn gasket, i just need to know what the leaking part would be called. - Brandon

 

[GTM]

Okay, i appreciate the response, i really think it has something more to do with a crank seal or something like that, its not just deposited where the red circle is, it is actually coming out that gap in the circle, i can visibly see a worn gasket, i just need to know what the leaking part would be called. - Brandon

I was deceived by the picture into thinking it was part of the oil filter mount with the oil sender or switch unit in the foreground. Maybe if you told us where or what is included in the picture others would recognize it. A wider view would help, is that the crank pulley and belts I see? Is that the back side of timing belt cover? If so it might be called an adapter plate? A repair manual would go a long way in you sorting it out.

You need to clean the area for it looks like it's being air washed everywhere.

If it is the back lower timing belt cover you have gasket posibilities besides the seal including the tensioner.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[Denji]

I was deceived by the picture into thinking it was part of the oil filter mount with the oil sender or switch unit in the foreground. Maybe if you told us where or what is included in the picture others would recognize it. A wider view would help, is that the crank pulley and belts I see? Is that the back side of timing belt cover? If so it might be called an adapter plate? A repair manual would go a long way in you sorting it out.

You need to clean the area for it looks like it's being air washed everywhere.

If it is the back lower timing belt cover you have gasket posibilities besides the seal including the tensioner.

Cheers,
GTM

Thanks, i appreciate your help, i know the picture isnt so great. That is the crank pulley, the leak is coming from a small seam a couple of inches more toward the engine. The picture was taken from underneath the car right next to the oil pan, at a first glance the oil running down would make you think that it was the oil pan leaking, however, this is not the case. I had to get behind the flimsy black cover that blocks direct view of the pulleys. Please help, i am very grateful for the above responses and i will try to be more clear.

 

[hellotbone]

I have the exact same leak in my 6bolt so if you do find out what is causing it pass on the info! I think its the pump cover or the crank seals as well the dye did nothing for me it just keeps seeping I don't loose much of anything and it doesn't get on my TB.

 

[Denji]

I have the exact same leak in my 6bolt so if you do find out what is causing it pass on the info! I think its the pump cover or the crank seals as well the dye did nothing for me it just keeps seeping I don't loose much of anything and it doesn't get on my TB.

i am stronly leaning towards the pump cover in this case after more research, im actually going to pull the belts off in a couple weeks and investigate, but a new pcv valve lowered my crankcase pressure and i havent had any oil at all from the leak for the past 2 days. I will be keeping this updated until i diagnose and solve the problem.

 

[FORMONTOYA]

As you stated it looks to you that it's coming from the pump cover or seals. I personally would lean more to the seals that the pump cover unless the pump cover has been remove. Gaskets (pump cover) are less likely to go bad compared to seals that will definitely go bad over time.

This is why I preach seal replacement during any job that gets even close to a seal. IMO, during a TB job you should replace 4-5 seals (2 cam seals, crank seal, oil pump seal, and balance shaft seal if you still have balance shafts). And a clutch job should have the rear crank seal and the 2 tranny output shaft seals replaced.

Of course any seal replacement you have to do on the front will require you to remove the timing belt.

 

[Denji]

As you stated it looks to you that it's coming from the pump cover or seals. I personally would lean more to the seals that the pump cover unless the pump cover has been remove. Gaskets (pump cover) are less likely to go bad compared to seals that will definitely go bad over time.

This is why I preach seal replacement during any job that gets even close to a seal. IMO, during a TB job you should replace 4-5 seals (2 cam seals, crank seal, oil pump seal, and balance shaft seal if you still have balance shafts). And a clutch job should have the rear crank seal and the 2 tranny output shaft seals replaced.

Of course any seal replacement you have to do on the front will require you to remove the timing belt.

i see, they havent been changed and my car has 140,000 miles on it. The only reason i felt it wasnt a seal is because the space it is moving from is not heavy metal, it is flexible, i figured any part of the block where the crank seal is located would not be a thinner section of more flexible metal, but i dont know a whole lot about it or i wouldnt have posted up for help.

Either way, im going to do these seals in a week or two unless the oil continues to not leak (like it has been since i put in a new pcv valve) in which case i will try and hold off so i can maybe do the timing belt at a more regularly scheduled time as opposed to ripping it off 20,000 after the last timing belt change, do you see any problem with this approach?

 

[hellotbone]

Thanks for the PCV valve idea I will try that too.

 

[FORMONTOYA]

i will try and hold off so i can maybe do the timing belt at a more regularly scheduled time as opposed to ripping it off 20,000 after the last timing belt change, do you see any problem with this approach?

I don't see any problem with holding off as long as the leak isn't massive. You'll have a little oil coating the underside of the car until then, but that's not a big problem. Just make sure to keep an eye on it until you get it fixed, and check the oil level on a regular basis.

The oil, from your description, sound like it's dripping from behind the bottom Tb cover (as it's flexible, but not metal), and not necessarily the pump cover (as it's NOT flexible). That's why I would assume the seals without actually taking things apart and looking. Especially now that I know you have 100K+ on the car without them being changed.

 

[hellotbone]

I don't see any problem with holding off as long as the leak isn't massive. You'll have a little oil coating the underside of the car until then, but that's not a big problem. Just make sure to keep an eye on it until you get it fixed, and check the oil level on a regular basis.

The oil, from your description, sound like it's dripping from behind the bottom Tb cover (as it's flexible, but not metal), and not necessarily the pump cover (as it's NOT flexible). That's why I would assume the seals without actually taking things apart and looking. Especially now that I know you have 100K+ on the car without them being changed.

Have you changed the seals in car or does the motor need to be pulled?

 

[jott5555]

i have had this same leak on both a 6bolt i did in my gsx and a 7bolt i rebuilt in a gst i sold a while back. at first i thought it was the crank seal.. but in both car's when doing t-belt job's i replace the crank seal's wiht new OEM unit's along with new front case seal's, so im stumped about it.. it seems like a problematic leak for dsm's, when i ripped my car apart last time it like looked like i had a leak comeing from the bolt i used to replace the balance shaft tensione, but i pulled that out and RTV'd the crap outta it, and retensioned it and it still leak's so. please post LOTS of pics and a detailed descripition when ya fix er..

 

[Blizz]

Yes, I also had that problem, where oil would appear to come from the oil pan or front cover. However, I check all those things and put new gaskets on them. Only until recently I discovered my oil leak, believe it or not, came from the valve cover. It was leaking from the corner by the exhaust cam. I cleaned everything up and tighten the valve cover down and now I don't see oil down there. Its been about 3 months now.

It may or may not be your guy's case, but thought you'd like to know.

 

[jott5555]

mines just like a drip or two a day.. just a lil residue when i look.. but ill give the vc gasket a wack throw some RTV in there next time im playin around.. i do run a crank scraper and thought for a moment it could be a leak on there but ive replaced with new gaskets ect.. still nodda

 

[GTM]

i see, they havent been changed and my car has 140,000 miles on it. The only reason i felt it wasnt a seal is because the space it is moving from is not heavy metal, it is flexible, i figured any part of the block where the crank seal is located would not be a thinner section of more flexible metal, but i dont know a whole lot about it or i wouldnt have posted up for help.
...
i will try and hold off so i can maybe do the timing belt at a more regularly scheduled time as opposed to ripping it off 20,000 after the last timing belt change, do you see any problem with this approach?

Here is what you are up against as an example of a 1G, note the long passages that are not supported except with 3 bolts in the lower left of the pict. 2 of those I think are part of the feed to the hydraulic tensioner.

If you can't be certain it's the front seal then you may be faced with radical surgery that won't be a slam dunk on a Sat afternoon.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[Denji]

Yes, I also had that problem, where oil would appear to come from the oil pan or front cover. However, I check all those things and put new gaskets on them. Only until recently I discovered my oil leak, believe it or not, came from the valve cover. It was leaking from the corner by the exhaust cam. I cleaned everything up and tighten the valve cover down and now I don't see oil down there. Its been about 3 months now.

It may or may not be your guy's case, but thought you'd like to know.

i will double check that just incase, i did redo the valve cover gasket not too long ago, it would be hard to spot a leak under the timing belt cover and it would probably eventually be seen down there, i'll update later.

 

[IceDragon]

I had / still have an oil leak from my valve cover gasket... believe it or not, I had it replaced and it still leaks a bit. I think that is a common trouble spot or something.