I noticed a few weeks ago that my car was leaving some small oil spots on my driveway. I finally jacked the car up and took a look.
The cam covers (black pieces in the front of the engine) look like they are leaking because there is oil along the seams...both sides!! The driver side looks the worst.

So, now I have a few questions...

what can cause this? and what damage will it cause? Also, will this take alot of money to fix?

thanks guys, any info will help.

-freddie

 

The cam seals leaking? Hrm...sorry to hear that freddie. I don't know how serious it is.

 

Those are called timing belt covers. Not cam covers.

They cover the entire front of the engine, so there are a lot of things that can go wrong. The far left and far right part of the covers are the lowest point of the cover, so all the "leaking" oil gets accumilated there. Plus, the timing belt carries the leaking oil around and "drops" it off there as well. So, without taking the covers off, it is impossible to say what is causing it.

In the front of the motor, you got your cam seals, main (crank) seal, oil pump w/ gasgets, various inspection holes and some other stuff that could be leaking.

You can take the side covers off and try to see what is going on there. I do recomend, however, taking the crank pulley off and taking all covers off. Then, armed with a flashlight, you can really see what is going on there. Expose all the stuff there, clean it with love and let the car idle for a while and play with throttle. You will see where the leaking occurs.

Hope this helps.

Alex

 

Perfect thanks Alex!!

Sorry I was told they were cam covers...from someone.... **cough**MIKE MPJ**cough** lol. I guess it's hard to explain things over the phone, when you can't actually see it.

thanks again

-freddie

ps. So this is something I can do at home...right alex?, no special tools or anything? I do all my installs, so I dont think it should be hard.

 

I had a similar oil leak problem with another car. A mechanic told me the valve cover and oil pan were leaking....turns out the valve cover's 4 bolts had to be tightened down. after cleaning off the engine it could be visually seen that nothing was leaking afterward, and the claim that the oil pan was leaking was wrong.
Check to make sure exactly what's the problem. Check all the places it could be or even the rare places it wouldn't seem possible a leak could come from. You may be suprised by what you find. Good luck!

 

thanks thebankman,

Yeah I will clean it off, check the bolts....and go from there...before I start tearing it appart. If it does continue to leak at least I know what I can do further to fix it...

Thanks guys for all the info...

-freddie

 

Yeah, you can do it yourself.

Its like changing the underdrive crank pulley. You take it off and then you will have access to the timing belt cover (middle). The side ones come off easy, but you might need to remove the rad fans.

After that, put the pulley+access belts back on and idle the car and look...

Yeah, the valve cover could be leaking on the front too.

Once you do what I explained above, you will be able to tell what is wrong with it.

Of course, you can bring you car to me as well. I charge $899.95 per hour. But, I can do that with my eyes closed while two girls nibble on my ears.

Good luck...

- Alex

 

you mean Joe and Dan?? LOL

thanks Alex

-freddie