Massive Oil leak from the front cover

[TunaFish]

Hoping to god that I didn't damage any bearings...

I was working on trying to fix my BOV, needed to go out to get a new fitting and pulled my car out of the driveway to take my friends car. Only a few drips of oil on the ground, which was normal my valve cover gasket leaks a tad.

When I got back, I hooked up the new vacuum line and went to take it for a test drive.

Basicly drove around the block, noticing that my oil pressure light was flickering.

I must have lost a quart of oil while it was sitting after I pulled it out of the driveway. Then another half quart on the ground when I stopped it to see what was up.

Seems like it is leaking from the front cover, but only the lower left side. Possibly elsewhere because there was a lot of oil.

Any causes? Seized water pump? bad oil pump? Bad luck? Previous owner put some oil cleaning **** in there before he sold it to me? (only been driving it for two days really).

Should I just pull the front cover and hope to god that there are no metal shavings??

Any help, insight, pitty , would be great, thanks.

[own3d]

i'd just replace the VCG. it should only take about 20mins to get it off and see if the gasket is ripped or something. but if you know thats where its leaking i wouldnt drive it till you get it fixed. and if you ever see your oil pressure light come on and you care about your engine just shut it off until you fix it.

[SpeedRacer1]

Its probably your front main seal behind the crankshaft pulley. With the right tools and luck you can change this $15 part in 20 minutes, but it could take up to an hour depending on how long it takes to get the pulley off.

You can get the seal from Nissan just ask for the one from early '90's Sentra SER.

[TunaFish]

Thanks, I will pick that up and hope for the best.

I have air tools, so hopefully removing the pulley isn't that difficult.

[robbbby]

Air tools wont do much for getting the crank pulley off. Stop at a autozone or whatever you guys have over there and borrow there gear puller. Most places loan out that sort of thing for free.

[xekushnr]

ah nice to see a fellow michigander on here. hows the car running in the cold? feel free to shoot me an email if you need help with anything, or if you just wanna meet up. i go to ann arbor at least twice a month.

[email protected]

[TunaFish]

Heya

Car was running great until this incident

Much faster than my previous track car, and more fun too. Do you ever make it to the summer car meets in the farmington area? They are held friday nights once its gets warm out.

[xekushnr]

yes, redline on 11 mile and middlebelt i am at every week (when its warm out). every car show in the metro area im usually at too.

[912.0turbo]

Air tools wont do much for getting the crank pulley off. Stop at a autozone or whatever you guys have over there and borrow there gear puller. Most places loan out that sort of thing for free.

They cant help you. Their crank pully puller is for a different type of crank pully. I just did mine 2 weeks ago and it didnt help just used a BIG breaker bar and put it 5th. Not the best idea but its all I had.

[TunaFish]

Ah I have probably seen you and your car before, I used to go all the time. My last car was a red integra with a rollbar and stripped interior?

So a gear puller and air tools are no good? Even with a 500ft/lbs gun?I picked up the seal today, and hope to tackle it this weekend (still praying no internal damage). Any hints as to how to get it off would be a huge help.

Thanks

[ItzGenX]

They cant help you. Their crank pully puller is for a different type of crank pully. I just did mine 2 weeks ago and it didnt help just used a BIG breaker bar and put it 5th. Not the best idea but its all I had.

I have done this too and it works great. Just be sure to pull that ebrake up nice and tight. After the bolt is off, the tricky part comes. Using a conventional puller at most autoparts stores will not work (will probably mess the pulley up or not even get the puller on it). I just used two large flat screw drivers to get it off. Slide them under the pulley and use them as prybars. Be sure to always place them at exact opposite sides of each other and pull on both at the same time. A few strong jerks at it and I was laying on my back wondering wtf happened .

[SpeedRacer1]

To get the nut off, try leaving the belts on too, perhaps put something in the path of the PS pump pulley since it has two holes in it. The trick is always to apply short spurts of pressure not a constant force (what air guns do...:P)

Also the pulley shouldnt be terrible to get off, do the two screwdriver method above and shouldnt take more than a couple minutes.

[180fan]

Have you made sure the oil leak was localized around the crank? If so here's what I do.

Get a 27mm socket, and a breaker bar and a pipe. Leave the car off, and put it into 5th gear. E-Brake on, pop the bolt loose and undo it for a good half to an inch off. At that point, I get my pulley puller (yes, it's a conventional type) and use it to pull the pulley about half an inch to an inch off. The metal on the crank pulley is pretty strong and the crank pulley will slide before the crank material breaks. It may help to have an adjustable wrench on the head of the crank bolt to keep it from going back into the crank. Keep screwing the pulley puller down until you're almost to the end of the 1". Pull the pulley puller off and pull the bolt out and just wiggle the crank pulley off. 9 times out of 10 this method will work since the oil from the leaking seal will lube it's motion a bit. If not, spray a little wd-40 and it'll be ok. If not, then go back at the adjustable wrench and the pulley puller with the washer off the crank bolt. Just keep in mind that if you begin to feel too much tension on the pulley puller, you've pulled the pulley too far and it's now on the sides of the bolt.

[TunaFish]

Well pulled off the crank pulley (pretty easy actualy!) and to my surprise the front main seal is flawless.

Ok, weird.

I follow the oil, and it looks like it was coming from the oil filter. Pull off the oil filter, and the rubber gasket on it is warped to hell. Ooops.

Pulled off the oil pan, no bearing bits in it... woohoo!

Letting the RTV dry overnight then I think it will be on the road again.

[Hijacker]

one quick note, if it is the front cover leaking (which it sounds like it's not), you'll have to pull the whole uppoer oil pain. When the front cover is pulled, it breaks the gasket for the upper pan and it needs to have its bead re-layed.