Tracking down my oil leak *pics*

[fallenauthority]

Well tonight after work i started tearing into the front of my engine looking for my mystery oil leak, it was leaving a couple good sized spots of oil right under the oil filter housing and occasionally a small spot under the crank pulley. So i bought a gasket set for the front end of the motor, now im wondering by looking at it whether or not i should even bother taking off the front case and putting the gasket on that because it appears to not be leaking, but im far from an expert on this, so i wanted opinions. BTW im also replacing my timing belt cause as you can see by all the belt shavings, when i installed my oil pan studs i put one in a bit too far and it rubbed on the timing belt(it was less than 2k miles old) and wore a groove in it, so that was a 75 dollar mistake on its own. But heres the pics, let me know what you think.

 

[GVR4592]

You didnt put the bolt in too far, you put the wrong bolt in. There are long bolts and short bolts, I'm sure you realize now where the short bolts go.

As for the oil leak, they're all the same. We can't find it for you, you need to clean off the whole area and watch for the leak.

 

[fallenauthority]

You didnt put the bolt in too far, you put the wrong bolt in. There are long bolts and short bolts, I'm sure you realize now where the short bolts go.

As for the oil leak, they're all the same. We can't find it for you, you need to clean off the whole area and watch for the leak.

No, I used oil pan STUDS, meaning the nut and stud are seperate, and i inserted the STUD in too far.
I guess i might as well just take the pan and whole front cover off and clean it all up and use all new gaskets and use a thin layer of gray rtv on them and torque them down to specs and let it set up till tomorrow. While im here i might as well do it right.

 

[TurboAnything]

Looks like cam seals to me. Did you replace them?

 

[fallenauthority]

Well i got it all back together nice and tight and got it completely cleaned. Time will tell if i got rid of the leak or not.

 

[Defiant]

What? What did you track it down to, and what seemed to be leaking?

 

[fallenauthority]

What seemed to be leaking was the oil filter bracket and a little under the timing cover but i thought the little under the timing cover was from the oil from the bracket spraying back to it, but it apparently wasnt, the filter bracket no longer leaks, but the one under the timing cover is. So im taking the cover off thursday and checking it out, see where it could be. Im thinking the front case crank seal, the person who installed my motor probably didnt put some rtv on the seal before inserting it. Ill find out thursday