Losing lots of oil

mindshadow · Post by **mindshadow** » 03 Jul 2010, 15:30

I was driving today and noticed my engine making a ticking noise like it was low on oil. To make a long story short when I parked the car in my drive I noticed a good bit of oil coming from the right side. It's not coming from the oil pan or anywhere directly under the car that I can see but there's a good bit of it dripping off of the control arm and the general area of the passenger's side around the tire. I'm thinking maybe the turbo seal is blown but I'm no expert hence why I'm asking here.

claymore850 · Post by **claymore850** » 03 Jul 2010, 17:44

Maybe your oil is leaking from the crankshaft seal... Did you change yet your timing belt and seals??? when it became old the rubber loose flexibility, and cracks ..and then the oil leaks....

Post by **cn90** » 03 Jul 2010, 19:35

When dealing with any oil leak in any car:
1. Take pic of the existing leak so you have records of it.

2. Clean the engine and the leak area. I use "Power Purple" cleaner.
Then rinse with gentle stream of water.
Then closely watch the leak to see where it comes from.

Post by **jblackburn** » 03 Jul 2010, 20:44

+1 on the cam seal; that's about the only thing towards that area of the car that would start throwing oil everywhere at a very fast rate.

mindshadow · Post by **mindshadow** » 03 Jul 2010, 22:00

claymore850 wrote:Maybe your oil is leaking from the crankshaft seal... Did you change yet your timing belt and seals??? when it became old the rubber loose flexibility, and cracks ..and then the oil leaks....

Had the t-belt done several months ago. Not sure if they changed the seals; I assume so.

What would be the best way to tell if it's the crankshaft seal?

mindshadow · Post by **mindshadow** » 04 Jul 2010, 08:52

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I'm driving a '98 V79 XC.

Post by **jblackburn** » 04 Jul 2010, 11:32

Don't ever assume they do anything they don't have to. I'm pretty sure they have not changed those seals, and generally won't with a timing belt job unless you specifically ask them to.

Pull off the top of the timing cover and shine a flashlight down in there...look at the belt itself & see if you can see oil splurging out from the front seal.

mindshadow · Post by **mindshadow** » 04 Jul 2010, 12:37

Will do. How easy/expensive of a fix is this generally? Also the other problem is that I'm about 70 miles away from home this weekend so would it be okay for me to stick some oil in there and drive it home?

Post by **jblackburn** » 04 Jul 2010, 12:42

I'm not sure how badly yours is leaking, but yeah it should be able to make that. If you're losing oil very quickly, you may want to stop after 40 or so.

As for a cost estimate, I'm not sure - I do the majority of work on mine myself. But it would involve removing the timing belt and front cam gear to replace the seal. If the belt is covered in oil, it will need to be replaced as well. That alone would be a couple hours' work for somebody like me.

mindshadow · Post by **mindshadow** » 04 Jul 2010, 16:02

Aw man, I'm going to be pissed if the t-belt has to be replaced. I just had that done a few months ago. :\