[SOLVED] Need help identifying oil leak when the car is on

[solli5pack]

It's $25 on Amazon

 

[thefrey]

Well this is going to be a fun leak to find. Just stuck cardboard under it and didn’t have any drips. It seems to only leak when accelerating or under load from driving.

I did find out that I have a slight coolant leak from somewhere in the radiator area… hopefully I didn’t kill the radiator taking it out somehow.

Perhaps my next step is to UV dye it?

 

[rdezs]

Running up to about 1,800 RPM for three or four minutes.....then take a look

 

[thefrey]

Running up to about 1,800 RPM for three or four minutes.....then take a look

Forgot to mention it was idling for maybe 30 minutes. Also tried to hold 3000rpm for maybe 30-45 seconds. I’ll try 1800 rpm for an extended period and see what happens

 

[thefrey]

@thefrey I also have a front seal leak from doing my AFM delete so you aren't the only one

Were you able to just replace the seal or did you have to take the timing cover off again?

 

[mikez71]

I used a flywheel holding tool to stop the crank from moving. Is there a good way of easily holding it now since I don’t have the starter off / don’t have access to the tool?

I can't come up with another way.. Anyone?

I would just pop the starter off again and order the tool. $10-$15 from amazon.
They ship so fast I really like them for stuff like this..

 

[thefrey]

Update: it’s 1000% the front crank seal. Took a video and it’s leaking real bad. Don’t know why but need to figure out how to fix it…

 

[alvocado]

You can have this alignment tool delivered to Milford by tomorrow if you order it today: https://www.amazon.com/Front-Cover-Billet-Alignment-Engines/dp/B088W435KX

 

[Dustin Jackson]

@thefrey I haven't gotten around to doing it but since the cover is how you adjust the placement I would take it all off and do it right. Get the cover cleaned up with a new seal and get it centered using the proper tool. Make sure you lube up the seal so when you put everything back together you don't tear it. Pretty sure you need a new harmonic balancer bolt along with the proper balancer removal and installation tools.

Can you post the video of your leak?

 

[thefrey]

@thefrey I haven't gotten around to doing it but since the cover is how you adjust the placement I would take it all off and do it right. Get the cover cleaned up with a new seal and get it centered using the proper tool. Make sure you lube up the seal so when you put everything back together you don't tear it. Pretty sure you need a new harmonic balancer bolt along with the proper balancer removal and installation tools.

Can you post the video of your leak?

I can post a video later. I am trying to not have to take the front cover off right now since that is a lot of extra work. Going to try to replace the seal without more disassembly assuming the cover is centered/after I check. Obviously if it isn’t centered, well then I gotta do the work anyways.

Here’s the succession of photos as I went up in RPMs, though

 

[Dustin Jackson]

@thefrey I hear you man but it's really not that bad, you just need to get the water pump off which is just coolant hoses, belt, and 6 bolts. After that you just need to remove the harmonic balancer and then you can remove the cover. The harmonic balancer is what I consider to be the hardest part and that needs to happen either way. Do it right or do it twice man you'll burn more time trying to cut corners

 

[Dustin Jackson]

One time I tried removing a jeep 4.0 motor from a cherokee without removing the front grill and I wasted so much time and bashed things around in the engine bay and turns out it was only 6 screws to remove the front grill and gave me all the space in the world. I learned something that day

 

[thefrey]

@thefrey I hear you man but it's really not that bad, you just need to get the water pump off which is just coolant hoses, belt, and 6 bolts. After that you just need to remove the harmonic balancer and then you can remove the cover. The harmonic balancer is what I consider to be the hardest part and that needs to happen either way. Do it right or do it twice man you'll burn more time trying to cut corners

Yeah that’s true. I guess I was thinking i would probably need to take the alternator “housing” off/whatever holds it. I should try to just do it right once and call it a day. I already have the bolt for the harmonic balancer off and all the belts off so it’s not that much extra work at this point.

Plus, I might need a new radiator so if I’m already draining a lot of coolant might as well just replace or inspect the radiator now.

 

[alvocado]

Autozone has the harmonic balancer removal tool in their loaner program. Likely to find it at Oreillys as well so you wouldn’t need to buy it.

 

[thefrey]

Autozone has the harmonic balancer removal tool in their loaner program. Likely to find it at Oreillys as well so you wouldn’t need to buy it.

I need to go re-rent another one. This one I got from autozone isn't working for me lol. The one at advanced auto is a really nice 3 claw one imo.

 

[rdezs]

There's actually an art to installing the front cover with the oil pan already installed. When you try to position it properly using the tool, you'll realize you have to push the cover down, compressing against the oil pan gasket. So here's the process I use:

Put some RTV on the bottom corner where the block meets the oil pan gasket on each side. Place the front cover in position, without the seal installed.... The centering tool will fit snugly in the seal bore. Thread the bottom bolts that go through the oil pan finger tight. Then get the two upper bolts started on the front cover just finger tight, then back them out one quarter turn. You will know the front cover has to come down before the centering tool that's over the crankshaft will easily slide into the seal bore. Slowly tighten the lower bolts that come up through the oil pan until the centering tool vets into the seal bore easily. At this point snug up the top two bolts on the cover. Tight enough that when you loosen the bugs that come up through the oil pan, that it won't shift upward. After snugging those two bolts up, you want to loosen the ones that come up from the oil pan, so that as you tighten the front cover it goes up tight against the block. Install the rest of the front cover bolts, I like to torque them in three steps. After that go ahead and torque the bolts to come up through the oil pan. Remove the centering tool. I have a piece of pipe the correct diameter, to carefully tap the new seal in. If you're using a new harmonic balancer (recommended if yours has wear), but the outside of the seal flush with the outside of the timing cover. If you're reusing your harmonic balancer, you can bottom out The seal in the bore which will move the seal left to a new spot on the harmonic balancer that doesn't have a wear mark. Then install your harmonic balancer bolt.

It is not necessary to remove the alternator for the bracket holding it. The only tight spot is the 10 mm bolt on the bottom left of the front cover, you will need a 10 mm open end wrench usually, but easily doable.

Notes: OEM and felpro seals are Teflon coated, and proper installation requires the seal and the harmonic balancer to be free of oil or Grease. Yes, they go on dry. Forget about everything we've done for the past 40 years and do it the recommended way. They are known to either leak or fail early if not installed dry.

Excellent time to do other stuff while you're in there if the budget allows. All hoses, serpentine belt, tensioner and idler pulley, etc.

One other note. If the oil pan is off, the front cover will self-center with the seal installed in it, and you can skip the tool. The issue where you need the tool is with the oil pan installed, because with the gasket it wants to push up on the front cover.

 

[rdezs]

Lol, sorry for the typos.... Google voice and I'm driving right now. Figure you'll know what it means:

 

[thefrey]

If the oil pan is off, the front cover will self-center with the seal installed in it, and you can skip the tool. The issue where you need the tool is with the oil pan installed, because with the gasket it wants to push up on the front cover.

Thanks for the long reply.


This is where things make me scratch my head… I installed my front timing cover without the pan on so I am confused how I ended up with such a bad leak. I don’t really know how I could’ve been THAT far off from center unless I did something really wrong. I am gonna pull the harmonic balancer and try to measure how centered things are

 

[SpareParts]

It can be off left, right, up or down. I would guess where the seal lip is tucked inside could be the direction it's off.
It could also be a case of you have it centered and it somehow got damaged installing the balancer.

 

[alvocado]

You’ve received thorough and good advice. I think your course of action is pretty clear.