I put the car up on ramps today to inspect the underside of the engine now that I've driven a few miles after the front seals / timing belt / water pump job. The purpose was to check for any leaks that might have developed.
The good news is that there are no visible leaks from the job I did. Thankfully I cleaned up all the old oil spill while doing that job, and those areas are all dry. This time I also took an extra round under the car and giving all the underside a thorough inspection. And....
The bad news is there's oil (looks like engine oil, not ATF) on the underside where the transmission and engine meet. Now August last year (only 500 miles ago - that's how rarely I drive this car!!) I did replace the distributor shaft o-ring that did indeed have a leak. I cleaned up all the oil spill from above, but at that point failed to go under the car and look for any remaining oil there (doh). The area above the engine has stayed dry since, so no more distributor leaks.
So my question is - could this oil I found (8 months / 500 miles since the o-ring replacement) simply have lingered from back when the distributor shaft used to leak oil? Or is that unrealistic and this is a new oil leak - which would mean the rear main oil seal? There's no dripping on the garage floor when the car is sitting, so the leak must only appear while driving and oil is circulating.
I will eventually be able to answer that question myself, as I did get a rag out and cleaned off all the remaining visible oil. I'll check again in a couple weeks (just have to actually drive the car too!) to see if oil has re-appeared.
In the mean time I'm looking for opinions from others who've had the whole oil seal / o-ring / grommet hoopla to stem oil leaks. I've got PCV valve grommet, distributor shaft o-ring, valve cover gasket w/nut gaskets, spark plug well seals, front crank and cam seals all under the belt. I am not happy about the prospect of removing the trans to replace the rear seal. If I indeed do have a rear seal leak I'll have to put my faith in the high mileage oil I'm using with seal conditioners... :-o
The good news is that there are no visible leaks from the job I did. Thankfully I cleaned up all the old oil spill while doing that job, and those areas are all dry. This time I also took an extra round under the car and giving all the underside a thorough inspection. And....
The bad news is there's oil (looks like engine oil, not ATF) on the underside where the transmission and engine meet. Now August last year (only 500 miles ago - that's how rarely I drive this car!!) I did replace the distributor shaft o-ring that did indeed have a leak. I cleaned up all the oil spill from above, but at that point failed to go under the car and look for any remaining oil there (doh). The area above the engine has stayed dry since, so no more distributor leaks.
So my question is - could this oil I found (8 months / 500 miles since the o-ring replacement) simply have lingered from back when the distributor shaft used to leak oil? Or is that unrealistic and this is a new oil leak - which would mean the rear main oil seal? There's no dripping on the garage floor when the car is sitting, so the leak must only appear while driving and oil is circulating.
I will eventually be able to answer that question myself, as I did get a rag out and cleaned off all the remaining visible oil. I'll check again in a couple weeks (just have to actually drive the car too!) to see if oil has re-appeared.
In the mean time I'm looking for opinions from others who've had the whole oil seal / o-ring / grommet hoopla to stem oil leaks. I've got PCV valve grommet, distributor shaft o-ring, valve cover gasket w/nut gaskets, spark plug well seals, front crank and cam seals all under the belt. I am not happy about the prospect of removing the trans to replace the rear seal. If I indeed do have a rear seal leak I'll have to put my faith in the high mileage oil I'm using with seal conditioners... :-o
