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Oil leak; oil leak around intake manifold
Topic Started: May 16 2011, 12:38 PM (735 Views)
journeymetro
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Gents,

I am seeing a large amount of oil on the top firewall side of the motor, near the accessories belts.

The rest of the engine seems relatively clean by comparison but that side looks like an oil rig.

Any ideas where it could be coming from? I did a cursory check on PCV, hoses, etc and nothing seems out of place.

The car has been leaking for a while but now it is leaking a lot more oil than it used to. Could it be a head gasket?

97 Metro, 3 cylinder.

Thanks.

Edited based on replies:

The cam cover is on, but it does have a piece missing on it around where the "center support" nut is supposed to be.

The timing belt looks about 1000 times cleaner than the rest of the stuff though it does have some oil on it.

We had the cover/pulleys off at some point to try and assess where on God's green earth all that junk was coming from, and found the inside of the cover pretty darn dry, there was only gunk at some spots no wet oil or anything.
Edited by journeymetro, May 16 2011, 01:16 PM.
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starscream5000
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Got 70 MPG?

Is the belt covered in oil? Do you have your timing cover on or not?
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Coche Blanco
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Troll Certified

Cam seal, 9 times out of 10.
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journeymetro
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I added this in the initial post but I thought I would put it here as well:

The cam cover is on, but it does have a piece missing on it around where the "center support" nut is supposed to be.

The timing belt looks about 1000 times cleaner than the rest of the stuff though it does have some oil on it.

We had the cover/pulleys off at some point to try and assess where on God's green earth all that junk was coming from, and found the inside of the cover pretty darn dry, there was only gunk at some spots no wet oil or anything.
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starscream5000
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Got 70 MPG?

Like mentioned. Your camshaft or crankshaft seal, or both are leaking. Most likely from not replacing your PCV valve regularly.
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snowfish
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Basic GearHead

starscream5000
May 16 2011, 01:49 PM
Most likely from not replacing your PCV valve regularly.
Define regularly. :hmm I generally consider it as part of the tune up. You know, plugs, cap, rotor, & pcv at 20-30k. Or every two years. Which ever comes first.
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mcmancuso
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Small chance it could be the valve cover gasket too (cover may not be tightened down enough), head gasket is VERY unlikely, you'd be having other symptoms if that was the case.
Post a pic of the oil, it can be 99% diagnosed with a good shot :)
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journeymetro
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Thanks guy, I WILL post a pic of the oil.

The PCV valve was changed about 10k miles ago.

The old one was shut solid.

The car is exhibiting a myriad of other symptoms, not sure which ones are relevant or not, inluding the following:

Melted a plug electrode on cylinder #3 and gave misfire code. Replaced cap, rotor, wires and plug. Has been running fine since, but replacement plug started getting whitish looking.

Have been loosing some water. Not sure where as I don't see any water leaks. That is why I am suspecting gasket. Oil is clean looking, not sure I can tell about coolant, but radiator (which was replaced with a new one a while back) still looks clean.

I will write more if I think about anything.

Thanks for the help.

JM
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starscream5000
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Got 70 MPG?

snowfish
May 16 2011, 02:20 PM
Define regularly. :hmm I generally consider it as part of the tune up. You know, plugs, cap, rotor, & pcv at 20-30k. Or every two years. Which ever comes first.
That's what I would define regularly as. Most people don't seem to think about changing this with everything else as time comes around. It's such a cheap part that would dare say change it every two years if you don't drive more than 13K miles a year.

If you are losing coolant, check around the water pump for leaks. If none are present there and no coolant is dripping while the car sits in one spot, you may want to invest in a coolant test kit that detects exhaust gases present in the coolant, which would be an indicator of a bad head gasket.
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