Leaking oil bottom right side of engine???

[Naturally Aspirated]

well i arrived at work with my buzzer going off and oil trickling from the underbody of the engine. What could be the culprit? It's coming from the passenger side and of course it's snowing so i can't get down in my work clothes and see where.

update: went to check it out and the timing belt is covered in oil

Any ideas will help

[SolarSteve]

I just experienced a similar problem.  Look in this section for a post title "Massive Oil Leak".  It turned out to be my intermeadiate shaft seal.  It dumped all of my oil and it was everywhere, T-belt, acc belts, from back of headlight to firewall, right brake and all the way down the right side of the car.  i was very lucky to have stopped and caught it because I poured a gallon of oil back in and it only brought it up to 3/4 on the dipstick and then I drove it 8 miles home and it was empty again.

It could also be the seal on the crank.  If you are going to try to drive it home be sure to pick up plenty of oil and stop a lot to refil it, it comes out FAST.

[Naturally Aspirated]

lol, i just finished reading your whole post. I'm going to check that as soon as i figure out how to get it home. Where did you get your parts. will i need to re-time the pump or just lock everything and replace the t-belt?

If you could kind of gimme a summary of your fix it would help me out a lot.

TIA

[Naturally Aspirated]

Ok, last thing i changed was the valve cover gasket. Is it possible that i could lose all/most of my oil through one corner of the valve cover gasket at the back near the timing belt cover. It seems i have fresh oil on the corner and running down the back to the bottom of the block. mixed with the snow i was driving in today could cause apparent dirty drops. I have noticed the car seemed to tick louder in the past couple of days. Maybe i've been losing this oil over several days.

[theman53]

Probably have been losing it for a while. Make sure it is full before driving anywhere and keep an eye on it. If it is a slow leak you could lose a bunch over time. Good luck. If it is the valve cover try to upgrade to the one piece rubber one

[SolarSteve]

Definately check your V/C.  If it is leak from the V/C then go to the German Auto Parts site and order the rubber V/C gasket and studs kit.  You need to replace the studs, it easy, just double nut the studs to remove and reinstall.  I used lock-tite on the re-install.

If its not the V/C, then you need to remove the acc belts & timing covers to see where it is coming from.  If it is the crank or the IM you will need to pull the T-belt.  I just locked everything and slipped the old belt off and then made sure the crank was at TDC by the marks on the flywheel and slipped the new 1 back on with out re-timing the pump and it worked fine.

If you find its a crank or IM seal, go to German auto parts and order the seal and if its the IM get the o-ring too.  The seal will press out of the seal carrier.  Clean everything really well and press the new seal in dry and put some grease on the rubber lip and re-install.  Its pretty easy, just take a long time to get to the seal.

let me know if you need more info, but it will be about 11 hours before I can re-post.

[Naturally Aspirated]

K thanks guys

Gonna get the wife to bring my tools to work when she comes to get me and i'll take the VC off and check it. Sure hope it is. I just drove about 1500Kms in the last week and a half since i did it so it is very possible that it came out there. I just thought i would notice it on my garage floor. Then again i pull in and drive out. Havent seen the floor since i fixed my exhaust last wednesday and it was snowing so EVERYTHING was wet. hard to notice stuff. I'll get a galon of rotella and see what happens

might be good to also mention that the T-belt is not soaked at all. and i don't have oil all over the engine bay. From the top of the engine you cant see anything at all. Everything looks fine and there is no oil anywhere.
From underneath, just looks like the oil is dripping in that one back left corner looking from the front of the car. It is sitting on a bed of snow and the only place i see oil drops is in a 2x2 inch sqaure at that corner.

[Naturally Aspirated]

Ok, well to much dissapointment i added a gallon of oil and started it to find i nice thin but consistent stream of oil coming from the passenger side of the engine. Needless to say i have a larger problem then the valve cover. Gonna go rent a uhaul and tow it home.

[SolarSteve]

Sorry to hear it.  Good call on the U-haul, though.  If the oil is not all over the place then maybe its the crank seal.  That also has a carrier that the seal seats into.  Not any easier to get to b/c you still need to pull the T-belt to get to it.  Also try to check the head to block interface, it might be coming from the the head gasket, hopefully not though.

Keep us posted

[Naturally Aspirated]

Ya, i figure its one of those three but its at work and i wear a suit to work so trying to see what it is is not an easy task. I tried to pul the timing covers off yesterday but the clip in the center wouldnt come out so i cant see in yet. I filled it with oil and it steadily came out but not as if pressurized just running. I checked it on my way in this morning and it doesnt seem to have leaked anymore than what came out when i started it. Dunno if that helps nybody tell me what it is but if it does please let me know what it is so i can try and have the parts ready for saturday when i can get it home.

Also, where is a good place to get a cam locking plate on short notice??

[somolovitch3]

Home Depot, 3 inch brass hinge.

[fatmobile]

Or stick a screwdriver through a hole in the cam sprocket,
 leveraged against the head.
 That will hold the cam sprocket still while you loosen the sprocket.
 My favorite way is to loosen it with the old timing belt still on and holding the sprockets.
 
...Using my impact wrench,..
 I hammer on the wrench. 

[Naturally Aspirated]

i have a sprocket wrench but to keep the cam from  moving afterwards so everything stays at tdc when replacing the t-belt i want to hold the cam. especially since i need to take the whole timing side of the engine off  . 

Really not looking forward to this fix since it could be anything under the timing belt covers and i cant get the damn cover off. Can i just pull on that little plug holding the cover in the middle? or is it an uncrew type retainer?

[fatmobile]

I think it's OK to tighten the cam bolt with the locker in place.
 Some people think this can still break the rear out of the cam and probably can if you torque it too hard, I've never had it break on me when torqueing the cam bolt.
 If you are real worried; you could just snug it down and see how everything is aligned after spinning the crank a couple times, then find a better way to hold it for the final torque.
 
 Takes alot more to break the bolt loose than it does to torque it down when done.
 I wouldn't depend on the cam holder in it's slot to hold the cam while I break the cam bolt loose.
 Saw it posted once that the 10mm/13mm open end wrench in the spare tire tool kit,
 holds the cam real well,.. I tried it and it does a good job,.. I don't know who to give credit for this idea.

[SolarSteve]

Takes alot more to break the bolt loose than it does to torque it down when done.
 I wouldn't depend on the cam holder in it's slot to hold the cam while I break the cam bolt loose.
 Saw it posted once that the 10mm/13mm open end wrench in the spare tire tool kit,
 holds the cam real well,.. I tried it and it does a good job,.. I don't know who to give credit for this idea.

Where are you placing the 10mm/13mm wrench to hold the cam?  When I was changing the IM seal out on mine 2 weekends I attempted the "hold a cam lobe with an adjustable wrench trick" but I didn't have a 12" adjustable, only a 10" and it was not big enough.