oil leak inside timing covers

Bumpysbro · Post by **Bumpysbro** » January 14th, 2007, 8:04 pm

hey guys ran into another problem, my car started runnin like crap so i did a compression reading went from 190 to 150. so opened her up and bam a ton of oil all over the timing belt and all on the inside. the front main seal isnt the problem, any ideas what would cause this? i dont see where its coming from. i just replaced my waterpump for the 3rd time about a week ago and just noticed the oil today mostly on the inside of the timing covers.
Jon

Bumpysbro · Post by **Bumpysbro** » January 15th, 2007, 1:15 am

well i cleaned everything put the timing belt back on. heres the weird thing im only getting around 150psi i used to get 190psi per cylinder. i mean a 40psi drop but the cams are on. i lost all of my coolant in my overflow tank. headgasket? i just replaced the sucker like back in may. any other ideas im at a loss. cams are on and crank is on the mark and still only get 145-150.

JWMotorsports · Post by **JWMotorsports** » January 16th, 2007, 11:22 pm

Check your coolant for traces of oil and see if your oil looks like chocolate milk. If so its the head gasket. The other item that can leak oil on your timing belt are the camshaft seals. Try putting a tea spoon or two of oil in the cyl and retest the compression. If it rises then it is probably the piston rings. The other test method is to use a leak down test gauge...Jegs & Summit sell them.

Bumpysbro · Post by **Bumpysbro** » February 18th, 2007, 11:43 pm

ya i keep loosing coolant and i think its either the cam seals or the main front crank seal. lots of oil in there i thought i fixed it but i guess not. ya i filled up my coolant resevoir about about to full and in about a week and its dead dry now. i guess the headgasket is either warped or something from overheating it. the oil looks clean no change in color but the spark plugs show white spots on them and im pretty sure thats water being burned. can anywhere confirm this not totally sure and i gotta smog the car in about 4 weeks then im gonna swap engines.

lycanthrope · Post by **lycanthrope** » February 20th, 2007, 1:09 am

clean the oil spots as best as you can, then let the engine idle in the driveway and watch under the hood, if you still don't see anything have someone raise the rpms a little bit, then inspect for leaks, oil or water, some waterpumps don't weep until the rpms are raised (if you are having that bad of luck with the waterpumps), is your car not overheating? did you swap out your thermostat and radiator cap as well when you replaced your pump? sometimes a faulty/weak cap can dump water at the wrong psi, once the majority of your water is dumped, alot of hot vapors will push though your overflow and empty the sucker out, not to mention the heat can do a number on your sealing surfaces...

good luck...

Bumpysbro · Post by **Bumpysbro** » February 20th, 2007, 3:55 am

well since the car overheated i did not replace the cap or the thermostat. il look into that, ya im not totally sure what it is, when i took everything off i got a puddle of oil under the crank and i had oil behind that black plate thing on the head and down the back and front of the head. i never replaced the cam seals and it looks like it could be them. and its alot of oil, it runs down the side of the water pump. what is weird on my waterpump right near the outlet of it theres a whole on the top has oil in it. i hope my oil isnt mixing with my coolant could have a whole bunch of issues. ill replace the cap and thermostat just to rule it out. thanks for the help

oh and the car hasnt overheated since i replaced the pump. and the cap to the radiator is still the original.

lycanthrope · Post by **lycanthrope** » February 20th, 2007, 11:02 am

damn, if the car isn't overheating now, maybe your valve cover gasket has developed some weak spots, this would only explain the oil leak, however, on the low compression readings you gave, this could be due to timing, i.e. the valves are opening before you are getting the full compression stroke, which could, in a blow-by sequence be pushing compressed air passed your intake/exhaust valves (if your valve guides are out of tolerance) which would pressurize your crankcase forcing oil out of weak/weakend rubber gaskets seals, hmmm...

clean or replace your pcv valve and double-check the timing, engines can still run if they aren't timed properly...

oh, and the oil in the waterpump hole shouldn't hurt anything, that hole is sealed unless the waterpump begins to fail, and in that occasion the oil would have to fight it's way passed the water coming out...