front oil leak

[ryan90]

alright.

I have been chasing this bi*** down for three days. It is drippin about 1/4 to a 1/2 a qt. of oil of 40 miles. Doesn't do it until warm and under high oil pressure.

This started after changing valve stem seals....

so the only things i messed with were vcover, oil pan, and tbelt tensioner bolt. Well the vcover might be leaking a little, as well as oil pan (bought new gasket and rtv and redid it). I actually drove it a decent mileage today and found my tbelt was wet so it's inside the tb area.

It's only on the outside of the tbelt, and there's a pool on the lip of my tensioner pulley. I searched and found that some people had leaks there too and needed rtv or locktite.

the pulley has oil pooled on the lip and has a fair amount of oil spewn on the bottom of the h20 pump so i think it is it.

sound right?? and can I use red rtv on the threads??

 

[ryan90]

thought I would add that i did not torque the pulley to spec. I ###### went further. if it matters at all...

 

[92AWDHX40]

u got pics? sounds like the valve cover, especially in that area.

 

[ryan90]

let me snap some for you.

The vcover is leaking but i don't think it's leaking THAT bad.

 

[OhhDearOh]

well as it gets hot it expands & and maybe more comes out as you're driving and as it cools (when you stop to look at it) it doesn't come out as much because its cooling down thus losing pressure.

 

[ryan90]

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things I did wrong and fixed. rtv'd the vcover gasket, we pulled the rtv off and cleaned the surface. reused the gasket though.

torqued the oil pan down too far and used wrong rtv. resealed with high temp rtv and did not torque as much. it still drips but def. not the cause.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Well is it a new vc gasket, they do harden and break. Other thigns are the front cover gasket on the timing side, and thats about it over there. mmmm

 

[ryan90]

its new but it was tightened once with rtv. we pulled the rtv off, cleaned it real good then retightened. The front cover could be leaking but I did not break it loose.

could it be that pully??? it's the only think logical left?

 

[Polyol]

When you did the valve seals, didn't you have to take out your cams. It could be your cam seals leaking. That was the biggest leak I had when I fixed all my oil leaks. OEM valve cover gaskets tourqed properly don't leak, torque is like 3 ft. pounds. I bought a cheap VCG the first time I had the cover off, and that thing just would not seal. Oil pan torque is like 5 ft. pounds.

 

[ryan90]

yea, They did not look healthy, I didn't change them b/c I could not break the cam gear bolt off.

They did not look good.

I am going to find a better wrench to hold the cam with and change the cam seals.

should I RTV the bolt threads of the tensioner?

after thinking about it... the cam seals had pieces broken off. That's gotta be it.

how do I put those on?? use any rtv?

 

[92AWDHX40]

never did mine the machine installed them.

 

[ryan90]

alright guys.

cranked it up with everything off.... def. cam seals.

Took my cams off to take it to the store with me to find the right size wrench.(the adjustable started to round the hex off). well before i did i grabbed the seal. it was nasty. outside had chunks missing and the inside disentegrated as i passed it over the first cam lobe.

i slipped the new one on the same way it came off. i am wondering if i need to rtv of the outside or anything??

 

[Polyol]

I put a thin layer RTV on the outer side of the seal.

 

[jjgrizz73]

my cam seals went after my motor swap and I chased it for along time. Didnt know where it was coming from and such a HUGE leak yet when I looked it dripped nothing. Good job finding it, use the RTV and tighten your valve cover to the correct specs and your problem should be solved.