Tom Hampton

Okay, so I’ve reported previously that I’d seen oil dripping from the engine from both the front and rear of the oil pan.  Today, I stopped by the auto-parts store and got 3 bottles of gunk and 3 spray cans of brake cleaner (the non-chlorinated stuff).  I spent the morning spraying, scrubbing, rinsing, and repeating until it was as clean as I could get it without pulling the whole thing out.  As you can see from the pix below, its pretty decent.

Once I got it clean it was time to hunt for the leak.  I put the whole car on stands to keep it level, and started the engine.  I put the hood down, and let the engine run until the radiator fan had cycled on and off several times.  I put the hood down to help build some heat and boil away any standing water.  Once I got the engine hot, and the water all evaporated, I began the hunt.  I found what looked like streaks under the front main seal, and on the bottom of the bell housing.  Since there had been so much water, I couldn’t be sure these streaks weren’t just from oily water vibrating and dribbling down.  So, I wiped these streaks away.

Next I held the engine at 4,000 rpm for 15 minutes.  This seemed to be the maximum oil pressure point.  I didn’t see the needle move any as I rev’d above 4k.  I figured 15 minutes would be a good amount of time for any oil to begin to find its way out any leakage spots….either leaks due to crankcase pressure or oil pressure.  I found a few leaks:

• Front main seal & joint to RTV gasket
• Cylinder head gasket, passenger side, rear engine.
• Spark-plug well cylinder #4.

Here are the pictures of each area.

Continue reading Uh…Houston? We’ve got a problem…