Oil leak or just years of oil changing mess .....

[mbartel]

I am trying to troubleshoot or trace if I have a possible oil leak (or where it is). I recently and accidentally became a 240SX vert owner. It has grown on me in just a month or so, and its now my new project. First I needed to asses the basic condition before I dump too much cash into this bathtub. One of my first projects was a serious clay barring, and wheel cleaning to discover it was actually white!! Then I worked on the underside and engine wash so I could actually see and make out where parts began and ended. Most of the engine was pretty clean (top), but on the front of the block at about the main pulley and down its a caked on mess of goo.

I have about one or two drops a day that it pees onto the floor. I have included some pics here so anyone could tell me if this is a common type of leak for a KA24DE or not, and what you think it is (main bearing, oil pan, front casing, etc.

Always a drop ready to go at the belt tenshioner bolt





Thanks for any help.

M
Modified by mbartel at 12:35 AM 10/9/2007

[PhopsonNY]

The only idea I can suggest is that you do a proper clean with an engine degreaser like Wurths and see if you can isolate the spot.

There should be no leaks, but the question is whether it is worth the hassle to fix it,

[lbrowne]

The only idea I can suggest is that you do a proper clean with an engine degreaser like Wurths and see if you can isolate the spot.

There should be no leaks, but the question is whether it is worth the hassle to fix it,

Definitely do a clean on the engine. It could be some blowby, a bit of oil escaping through the valve cover gasket. Could be front main seal. Could be many things. If you always have a fresh drop ready to let go then its coming from somewhere. It'll be very hard to locate something leaking so slowly with all that grime under there.

[Beazle]

I noticed on mine that things had oil on the bottom of them that could not have dripped there from above. So I though it might be the front main seal. I changed it and cleaned the engine. A couple thousand miles later and no oil buildup.

[mbartel]

What was the difficult level of changing the front main seal?

Those pictures are after a whole can of engine degreaser and 15 minutes at one those pressure wash places, where you are not supposed to use any solvents. However the rest of the grime there only comes off by scraping, and lots of those places I just can't get my fingers into. Not to mention the amount of crud I did get off that gravity happily placed in my teeth.

I have cleaned and dried that low point (the pulley bolt) a few times and it always gets slightly wet and shiny after a day, so I know its getting fed somewhere from above.

M

[lbrowne]

You could also have a leaky timing cover. The main seal? You have to remove the timing cover, the crank pulley, do the timing chain since you're in there...