Front main seal (crankshaft seal) leak? (2 Viewers)

[99fzj105]

Hello guys, took the cruiser (fzj105) to a mechanic to get an oil leak rectified, mechanic says he can’t see an oil leak. Well, I can see an oil leak. So I’m wondering if you knowledgeable cruiser owners can confirm or help me diagnosing if the leak is coming from the crankshaft seal or as others call it the front main seal. I’ve taken some photos laying on my back from underneath. Cheers in advance.

I understand the photos are really hard to see oil as I had to use the camera flash and the oil is also very new as I just had a bunch of work done including an oil change and the ‘front main seal’ was supposed to have been replaced when the work was carried out. The oil appears to run from where I have outlined in red and accumulates on the crank position sensor and surrounding bracket. There is no other visible oil leaks aside from this one and it seems to only leak amounts when I’m highway driving not so much town driving. According to the dipstick I’ve also lost a little amount of oil. I know this may seem like something small but I’m just pissed off it’s leaking at all as I’ve spent thousands recently getting it all leak free and back to spec.

 

[mudgudgeon]

Could be.

Oil pump o-ring seal is another potential leak in that area.

 

[Kernal]

^^^This^^^. More photos would help

Will be harder to see as it appears your engine oil is very clean, so you could add a UV dye to the oil to help reveal where the leaks start.

Take a photo from above looking down at the front of the engine (timing chain cover) which includes the oil pump cover which is next to the large black round thingy (crank pulley/harmonic balancer). Another around/below the distributor, another showing the valve cover where it mates to the head, ---

Whether it's from the oil pump cover or the front crank seal, you (the mechanic) should replace both at the same time as the crank pulley has to come off for both/either.

But because you just had the front main seal replaced that seal may not have been installed correctly OR the mechanic ignored/missed the actual source of the leak which could be the oil pump cover O-ring (gasket) as mentioned above in post #2.

We've seen this happen when someone who's not familiar with the 1FZFE engine assume that the leak is all from the front crank seal and they don't look to their right when they're replacing the crank seal.


Read through this.

How to Replace Oil Pump seal w/ Pics

I recently noticed that I had an oil leak coming from the front of my motor. After cleaning up the front of the motor to determine where the leak was coming from it was easy to see that it was coming from where the oil pump cover mated to the timing chain cover. I crawled under the truck once...

forum.ih8mud.com

I robbed this photo from the link above: it's looking up from below at the front of the engine with the crank pulley (harmonic balancer) removed.
You can see the nose of the crank sticking out with the front crank seal in place. To the right is the oil pump cover attached to the timing chain cover by seven cross-head JIS screws (Japanese Phillips type screws). The O-ring behind that cover (plate) is often the main source of the leak.

Note there is also the upper oil pan that is sealed to the bottom of the timing chain cover also, another possible source. Need to trace the leak to be sure.

 

[wpns4l]

Even if its the oil pump cover the HB has to come off to change that so might as well change the front seal too.

*EDIT* just saw this was mentioned above

 

[99fzj105]

Thanks for reply’s , I will take more pics. It only seems to start leaking when under pressure when doing longer trips. For example if I go for a 10 - 15min drive I won’t see Any oil whatsoever, not a drop. Although if I go for an hour long or longer drive that is when it starts to leak. Very frustrating. All I want is an engine that has no oil leaks but with this 1fz it would appear that’s asking too much. Will report back with more pics when I can get it to leak again :/

I should mention that the engine had blown a head gasket and ended up spending a month in the workshop getting a whole new head installed, timing chain, water pump, radiator, oil pump cover seal, timing seal, oil pan seals were all covered. I ended up with a very large bill just over $9000. Hence why I am pissed off it’s still leaking, even if it’s a tiny weep. Even more frustrating when I take it back to tell them and they say ‘oh I can’t see a leak, bring it back in a week if it comes back’. Incompetence I put it down to, and not giving a s*** about the customers vehicle. I had already taken it back numerous times after they did the initial work to get things sorted out (more leaks)

 

[Kernal]

OK, so sounds like they're kicking the can down the road. Ask them to dump some UV dye into the engine oil to check for leaks, or you can do it then show them where it lights up when exposed to a UV light.

It should be good, but maybe check the PCV valve to make sure it's working (was it replaced?)

Post up a few more photos, one showing the top of the engine, wide shot, from a few feet back. Include photos of any areas that had to be resealed
(list them also).

 

[NTH89]

I thought I had a front main seal leak as well. Degreased. Drove around. Turned out to be the oil pump cover gasket.

 

[bhsdriller]

Even if they just replaced it sometimes the oil pump cover seal can get messed up or not seated right while installing

 

[99fzj105]

Photos

 

[99fzj105]

Photos

 

[mudgudgeon]

Photos

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The last pic leaves me doubtful they ever had the oil pump apart. If they did, they did a shìtty job of cleaning the housing, and around the housing before putting it back.

I'd suspect the oil pump seal.

Good news is, you have distributor-less ignition. So no distributor oring to leak.

Another possible leak is the oring seal on the power steering pump, in the back side of the oil pump/ timing case.

Another minor criticism of work done, worm drive hose clamps have been used in several visible hoses.
Personally not a fan. OEM spring clamps are a better option. Worm drive clamps can pinch the ends of the hose and cause them to weep. Something to keep an eye on.

 

[bhsdriller]

The last pic leaves me doubtful they ever had the oil pump apart. If they did, they did a shìtty job of cleaning the housing, and around the housing before putting it back.

I'd suspect the oil pump seal.

the screw heads look almost stripped out so it might have been off in the past
Or they gave up lol

 

[mudgudgeon]

the screw heads look almost stripped out so it might have been off in the past
Or they gave up lol

Yeah I thought the same.
Either they gave up, or didn't clean the housing.
Both are a red flag.

Those screws would be a pain if the engine was still in the car @99fzj105 If you take these, do some reading first. They are VERY easily destroyed if not treated with care.