Redtop Oil Leak

[pgt892]

I have an oil leakage problem with my redtop. The redtop is installed into a 97 240 and there seems to be an oil leak somewhere. I always check the dipstick almost everyday to make sure I am not running low because I always see oil spots wherever I park. Upon opening up the hood I find oil on the alternator, water pump and the front of the engine. I don't know where it is leaking from, but I imagine it leaks onto the pulleys and gets flung around during driving. If anyone could give me a heads up as to where it may be coming from and how to fix it I would be forever grateful. The front seal was leaking previously and it was replaced by a local shop. Beyond that I don't know what it could be. Thanks in advance, Alex.

[180fan]

get under the car and look for oil drips or wet spots. then follow the trail and you'll find your leak.

[nismostate]

make sure there isn't a pin hole size leak from the oil pan. i had one and it took the longest time to figure out where it really came from. i had to drain the new oil and jb weld the hole shut.

[180crafter]

NismostateHow did you manage to get that??? I would hate it if that happened to me....

[pgt892]

Thanks for the heads up guys, I will dig into it tomorrow. Hopefully I will figure it out.

[nismostate]

NismostateHow did you manage to get that??? I would hate it if that happened to me....

I have no clue how that happened. maybe it got there from banging the dents out or from shipment. the pan wasn't banged up bad either. it freaked me out though because i put new gasket on the whole oil pan and i thought it was something i did wrong. would suck *** to take the aluminum pan off while the motor is in the car. buddy of mine put his finger on the spot where it was dripping from and it stopped. so we figured there was a tiny *** hole there. sucked that I had to drain brand new oil. just be sure to check it carefully before you put it back on.

[Hijacker]

it sounds like the front crank seal to me

[SpeedRacer1]

Yeah, oil covering the front the engine has very few sources. The front main oil seal is your #1 suspect. Heres what mine looked like a couple days after it went out (before+after). When you get a chance pull off your crankshaft pulley and look for oil behind it.

[Gladius]

Welcome to the leaky oil seal club my friend. Its probably your front main seal like the others said. Mine is leaking from the rear main seal. Sigh.

[Hijacker]

the front main is a common seal to go out on these motors. they're right up against the oil pump, and the oil sees more heat than a KA does. Also, with as long as these motors can sit before they get sold, I'm surprised the rubber seals hold up.

[pgt892]

Is there some information on how to install a front seal? I looked in the S14 FSM and it wasn't very informative.

[Hijacker]

wasn't very informative? it lays it step by step. and if you did a search, there was a thread a few weeks ago where i helped detail how to get all the stupid belts off

[Hijacker]

Belt removal:http://www.nicoclub.com/zerothread?id=78728

Seal replacement:http://www.nicoclub.com/zeroth...30123

EDIT: fixed to accept the new zeroforum thread ID
Modified by tenkawa_akito at 7:11 PM 9/4/2004

[pgt892]

Thanks.

[Hijacker]

no prob

[pgt892]

I can't seem to locate those two posts, the one about the belt removal and the other about the seal replacement.

[Hijacker]

Search is your friend.

You can't locate those posts because their thread IDs were formatted for VBB 2. We switched to ZeroForum, which uses a whole different ID system.

[pgt892]

OK, I changed out the front seal making sure the install was good, cleaned up the front cover, the alternator and everything else that was covered in oil. I drove the car today and tada! Everything is covered in oil again! I don't know what the f*!#@n' problem is now. Could a leaky oil pan cause oil to get up over the front of the engine? Any help appreciated.

[pgt892]

Today, I think I figured out the oil leak. I put a large cardboard box under the car to figure out exactly where the leak is. The leak is directly under the front seal. There is also oil on the front cover and various accessories like the PS pump, the alternator, and surrounding wires. I can only think of one reason why the new front seal didn't hold. When I checked the FSM for the torque specs on the crank bolt, I looked at the Nm reading of 142-152. I torqued it down to 142. The ft-lb reading is supposed to be 104-112. This is the only reason I can think of that the seal is leaking again. I made sure the seal seated correctly by applying even pressure to all of the seal at the same time. Also, I checked the crank housing around the seal for any burred edges or rough spots and there were none. So my conclusion is that too much torque (approximately ~30lbs) was applied which causes the front seal to leak. Is this a valid conclusion, and if not what else would cause the new front seal to be leaking again. Any help with the problem would be appreciated. Thanks in advance, Alex.