I hope someone who has been farther into the engine than I have can provide some direction for me.

I replaced my power steering pump (twice!) and I was disappointed to see a little bit of fluid on the timing belt cover. I thought it was power steering fluid (ATF), but it didn't smell like ATF. Upon further inspection I noticed what looked like part of the timing belt cover gasket bulged out, just where I noticed the fluid. Questions:

- Does it look like the gasket is torn/broken or has it somehow just popped out? If it's just popped out can I loosen a couple of bolts and push it back in place?
- The fluid on the cover smells like oil but, if the gasket is leaking, should it really be oil? I assumed that the area around the timing belt would be dry.

The first pic below shows a zoomed out view for reference, taken from about the middle of the car. The big bolt on the left is for the P/S pump bracket. The second is the same pic but zoomed in on the area in question and the third pic is from a slightly different angle, more towards the driver's side of the front.

Any help/advice is appreciated. Thanks.

 

If you're referring to the plastic cover that is over the timing belt, that's all it is. It's not holding any fluid back. It's just covering the belt. If oil is leaking in that area, it's possibly from another source such as a cam seal. The pix are kinda close to be sure.

 

Yeah, sorry about that. I know what you mean, I've often looked at pics of specific areas under the hood and wasn't quite sure what I was looking at. I hope the below can clear things up.

The first two are the same as the ones above, but with some things labeled. The next pic I found on the web, with the area circled. The last pic is from the service manual, again with the area in question circled.

If you look carefully at the pic of the engine (3rd pic down), you can see that the gasket is flush with the cover - on my car, the gasket is popped up and has a gap under it.

Again, thanks for looking, please let me know if you have any info that could help me.

 

That helps, it's not likely a cam seal, they're too far to the side. You have to determine what fluid sources are above. The alternator does not have any, but the power steering pump does. It's likely power steering fluid. Again, that's just a plastic cover that goes over the timing gear.

 

Thanks for taking another look at this, and thanks for the input. Do you think I should find a way to shove the gasket back under the cover? Maybe loosen a couple of bolts holding down the timing cover and see if the gasket can be put back in place?

Also, I just replaced the P/S pump, I'm using stinky synthetic ATF and I don't think that's whats on the cover... the little bit of fluid on the cover smells like regular oil, but I can't think of any place that might be leaking above that area since that bolt is basically at a high point on the engine.

 

That gasket interface is pretty minor. Unless it really bothers you, I'd just leave it.

As for the oil, I'd be less concerned if I saw oil in the area and opposed to a line of oil dripping towards the bottom of the engine and onto the roadway. IMO it's probably power steering fluid or the Dexron 3 stuff.

 

OK, thanks again. I can't think of anything above that area that would be leaking, besides the P/S pump as you mentioned. I guess I'll pull the pump again and see if that's the issue.

 

Useless its the pump that is leaking again. There's the oil pressure switch around that area. You can check it out.

 

OK, will take a look at that too. Thanks!