A leak re-visited

[iplagolf]

Spent the day in the garage today. Drained the cooling system, replaced the anti-freeze. Drained the oil, new oil and filter. When I dropped the guard under the engine I found oil residue in two areas. You are looking at the picture as if you are standing in front of the car looking at the engine. The leak on the right seems to be coming from the power steering rack. Where the line goes in there is a black plastic cap that turned to dust when I wiped the oil from around it. The piece of the plug that went into the rack is still in place. I see a rack re-build in the spring. The second leak on the left, ah yes, that one. Last year, I believe about this time, I was doing the same thing, getting the car ready for winter. I saw the same oil spot on the guard. There was a drip of oil where the filter seats on the engine. Found the filter wasn't as tight as I thought it should be. Problem solved...Nope. I took the steering fluid tank off its mount so I could see better. I saw a wet spot on the first exhaust manifold stud. It was oil. Then I saw oil coming from just under where the cam tower attaches to the block. I got a 6 MM allen and tried to torque the bolt. It is as it should be. I will have to assume I have a tower gasket that has gone bad at the corner. Could it be a front gasket???The oil loss looks much worse in the pictures. I check the oil level every time before I drive the car. I didn't add any oil since the last oil change. I thought the tower gaskets went bad on the other end. I guess I just gotta be different!!! Any ideas, input??? I'm not going to even think about doing anything about it until spring. Just wanted to run it by the brain trust. Thanks, Fritz

[89-944NA]

Possibly from cam housing gasket, front balance shaft seal, front balance shaft o-ring, oil pump seal. But up high like that I'd think more along the line of the balance shaft seal, o-ring or cam housing.

Pull the belt housing covers and see if you can probe around the balance shaft with a pipe cleaner or Q-tip, maybe get a small mirror, loosen the two bolts that hold the rear of the belt housing, carefully pul the housing forward a bit and see if you can look behind it with the mirror.

Balance shaft o-ring is located where the power steering support mates with the engine

[kwikt 911]

I'd check your oil filter first to make sure it's not the culprit.

[89-944NA]

Originally Posted by kwikt 911

I'd check your oil filter first to make sure it's not the culprit.

He said he already checked the oil filter...this had been a continuing problem since last winter.

[xsbank]

Looks like power steering fluid to me...

[iplagolf]

Not power steering fluid. I forgot to mention, I re-build the power steering pump while I was in there last tear. No loss of fluid. Tank full to the mark I put on the dip stick. I'm going to pull the plastic cover off the front of the engine and take a look. As I stated this is not a bad leak. I have zero spots on the garage floor. I think I'm pretty lucky considering the age of the car. Thanks, Fritz

[solex3274]

I had the same problem, the oil was comming from the cam tower. You probably have oil on the exhaust headers as well. Time to change the gasket, don't forget the rear gasket since you are in there. This is a little more involved than changing the gasket on a small block Chevy, but follow the proceedure in Clarks Garage. Use a piece of sheet metal to prevent the lifters from falling out, you will want to keep them in their original holes. Make sure the plastic housing from the belt tensioner is out of the way when you intall the cam housing.