Crank seal leaking?? Looks like oil pan....

[tsi1991awd]

So ever since I bought this car, there's been an oil leak...there was no lower cover on the car to begin with and I thought the oil pan was leaking...when idling, I could see it leak where the oil pan and block met.

I had my mechanic reseal the oil pan and he used a new (used) oil pan since the flange was bent from over-torquing the oil pan on the old pan. We put a timing cover on, etc. etc. and put it all back together.

Well, I run into a leak....it's getting all over the firewall, subframe, transfer case....timing belt now has oil on it which we replaced the timing belt with a brand new one.

So today I run the car up to him, he takes the lower cover off, alternator belt, timing belt, etc. And they clean everything. They spray it all down good with brake cleaner and wipe it down, spray the oil pan, etc. Everything's good and clean. I witness it being spotless.

We get the car on the lift and let it idle.....it's idling, idling...nothing happening. They go to work on another car and I'm watching for the oil. I see nothing coming from the oil pan, nothing from the front case, nothing from the OFH.

I would say maybe 3 or 4 minutes later, I see oil coming from one spot where the oil pan and block meet.....it starts to run along the seam toward the front of the engine. I call my guy over and we start looking with the flashlight and he says he doesn't think it's the oil pan leaking because if it was the pan, it would leak from the pan down....it wouldn't get all over everything else.

We check around and see little tiny "mist" up near the water pump, meanwhile I'm still monitoring down at the pan and the block....we keep looking around and notice the front case start to get slightly shiny and there I am still looking at the one spot where the pan and block meet and the oil is steadily flowing along the seam....it's not being kicked up by the timing belt or anything.

Well, we lower the car and look from the top and can't see much....turn the car off and raise the car up again. I notice that the timing belt is now wet with oil, one of the timing belt tensioners now has oil on it and BEHIND the crank pulley. It was dry beforehand.

So I am thinking 90% that it's the crank seal....BUT my question is, would the crank seal leaking make it look like the oil pan was leaking? Because pretty much around the crank pulley area is where I see the oil look like it's starting to leak.

 

[Derock2gspyder]

ya crank seal will make it look like an oil pan! and if its getting on the timing belt its definitly not a oil pan leaking! id lean towards the crank seal from what you said and just replace it!

 

[tsi1991awd]

Whoa dude, you live in Spanaway? I used to live there....live in Puyallup now though.

Anyways, I will wait for him to take it apart and see what it is. It has a Topline oil pump in it...these guys that rebuilt the motor cut corners everywhere. So the seal is probably shot, seeing as it's a cheap ass part.

 

[vzeoh6om]

Whoa dude, you live in Spanaway? I used to live there....live in Puyallup now though.

Anyways, I will wait for him to take it apart and see what it is. It has a Topline oil pump in it...these guys that rebuilt the motor cut corners everywhere. So the seal is probably shot, seeing as it's a cheap ass part.

let us know the results when you have them so we (atleast i) can know what to look for if my seal goes bad

 

[EclipticalGS]

it could be crank seal, RTV wasnt used on Bolt for BSEK, or your actual front case/oil pump gasket was hack jobbed or re-used. You did say the motor was built by a couple of retards right? Mine was and it leaked from exactly where your saying..After some really hard pull, I could smell the oil on my downpipe and even farther back onto by cat back and suspension parts. Good luck.

 

[tsi1991awd]

Yea some ####tard idiots cut corners all along the motor. I am thinking crank seal, because there's nothing coming from the edges of the front case or along the bottom...just that one area of the pan I was talking about (or what looks like its the pan)

I was thinking it was on the outside because the firewall and subframe and shit was covered in oil, it ended up blowing over to under the tranny and on the T-case. Was on the lower timing cover on the outside as well. But it seems that it's actually coming from inside the timing cover, right behind the crank seal.

The balance shaft elimination was done and I see where they used epoxy or something on the hole or whatever...jb weld maybe, I don't know. The castle plug is there, good condition, not beat up or anything. So idk....

 

[1990ill_eagle]

check the cam seals also that happend to me

 

[tsi1991awd]

It's definately NOT the cam seals. It's coming from lower down somewhere along the front case area.

 

[Durdamax]

any luck on finding this leak i have the same issue motor was just rebuilt 1200 miles ago, along with bs eliminator, oil everywhere on frame rail, and a steady leak dripping off pan ridge looks like crank seal???

 

[cyclonekid77]

I had a leak on my laser once that kind of sounds like what your talking about. After replacing every gasket and seal on the front side of my engine including the pan gasket TWICE it still leaked. Ended up being my POS Cometic head gasket leaking oil down the front of the engine. I could never really tell where it was coming from because the timing belt flung it all over. I will never run a cometic gasket again on my car.