ViribusUnits

What could cause a fairly substantial oil leak, with no pressure, on the frount of the engine when it is running.

Does the crank kick up enough mist to make a 6" puddle in a couple minutes of idleing?

In short, is a leaky oil return enough to cause such a leak, or should I be looking into cam/crank seals, or something else?

83, US 928S

Bill Ball

Oil return? Those lines run to the left side in 83, don't they? It would be dripping off the hose or the hose fitting at the front or where they go into the block over the oil filter.

If it's dripping off the front of the motor, dead center, it's the crank seal. Cam caps would be obvious by looking up there. Oil pump would drip just to the left of the crank. It would be a more likely source for a high volume leak, of course.

Planning on doing your TB soon?

Mark

Double check the dipstick tube connection at the front/top of the oil pan...

SharkSkin

VB, if you mean the oil return just inboard of the alternator(first pic), a leaky gasket at the flange on the top of the oil pan could cause this, but if it's that bad the bolts would have to be almost falling out. Same goes for the level sensor, which is right next to the return tube(second pic, bottom center). I suggest cleaning it up with some Simple Green then watching more closely. Check the flange first, if it's real loose you don't want to be spraying soap and water in there.




Funny, I just posted that first pic 2 minutes ago to help someone with another issue.

Bill Ball

Oh, THAT oil return. Forgot about that. Not present on later cars.

GregBBRD

Any leak that makes a 6" puddle in a few minutes should be fairly easy to locate.......have you looked?

ViribusUnits

Oh yes I have looked. You'd think it would be clear, right? However, my engine is DIRTY DIRTY DIRTY. I through I traced the oil leak back to the oil/air seperator on the top of the engine. I recently got it apart, and there doesn't seem to be any cracks/holes nearly big enough to cause this kind of a leak.

The leak eventualy drips off of the pasangers side of the engine, on the front.

So I'm kinda stumped. I've previously pulled the timeing belt covers off, thinking the crank seal was going. The timeing belt was dry, no oil, so I figured that it wasn't the crank, or cam seals. I may have to go look deeper into this.

Anything on the passanger's side, frount part of the engine that could leak that I'm not thinking about? About the only think I can think now is that I might have a crack in the block. (hope not.) I know from experence that the a/c compressor is not something I want to take off if I don't have to. Looks like I may have to.

FlyingDog

Did you overfill the tensioner? Mine will make a fairly big puddle the first time I start it after I fill it.

Bill Ball

Passenger (right) side could be the cam cover gasket. From under the car, look up above the drip point at the gasket and the area on the block around the exhaust manifolds. With that much oil, you should have a stream down the block and a huge amount of gunk around the cam cover gasket. The area should be CLEAN if there were no leak there.

ViribusUnits

Thinking back, it could be the stupid dipstick. If it is I'll be REALLY upset with myself, I forgot all about it. If it's a busted block, I'll be really upset with the car.

Hum...

SharkSkin

Dipstick sounds likely. Also the cam towers on the early cars can really spew a lot of oil compared to the later cam covers, because that gasket seals a pressurized oil passage. But that sounds unlikely since you report a dry belt.

Sounds like you need to at least clean off the potential leak areas enough to be able to spot fresh oil. Then go back & clean up the rest after you get it isolated and fixed.

ViribusUnits

Goodnews: not the dip stick, it was screwed in nice and tight. Also not a crack in the block. No visible cracks anywhere near the a/c compressor mounting. No play in the compressor. Deffently not a crack.

Bad news: I took the upper timing belt covers off today. Vastly diffrent result from my previous experence. Really sloppy, oil every where. Loughts and loughts of oil all over the passangers side cover. Deffently the problem, as the oil stains start in the center of the gear and work their way outward. Deffently has to be the passanger's side cam seal.

This problem appeared with a "no-power-above-4,000-rpm" problem that I can't trace to the fuel, or ignition system. I'm thinking they are related.

Thus in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, "broke camshaft".

What can people tell me about this?

Thanks

Bill Ball

So, looks like you need to pull the cam gear and assess the end seal, at least.

ViribusUnits

Why would a seal just go out?

Also, can you think of any mechnism that would kill power caused by the leak? I don't think it's enough of a leak to cause oil pressure to drop, so I dought there was too much friction. (I never noticed inadquate oil pressure.)

karl ruiter

As far as I know it is only the drivers side cam that breaks...to make room for the distributor drive they moved the bearing too far back. My guess is cam carrier gasket. Because they are pressurized they just go all at once and leak big when they do, leaking mostly from the front corner where the oil feeds up from the head, and it can be hard to see clearly as there is lots of stuff in the way. There are several other related gaskets and seals such as the cam seal and a gasket that seals the part of the cam cover that holds the seal the the rest of it etc, but if you have a really big leak I am guessing cam carrier gasket because that is where most of the pressure is.