Oil Leak

[alvarorb]

Yesterday we were supposed to be on Norcal Doug's Rubicon run. However, as I was packing La Cabra on Thursday night I realized I was leaking oil pretty badly. I did not know if it was ATF or engine oil. So we decided to stay home.
Having a catastrophic oil leak on the trail would be a very bad thing. Not only it would be hard to fix on the trail, but the clean up would be messy. Even if it was an engine oil leak and it was not catastrophic, it wouldn't be right to be dripping oil all over the Rubicon trail.
This morning I cleaned the bottom of my engine, plus I removed the engine deflector shield, exposing the bottom part of the crankshaft pulley and crank shaft positioning sensor. With the engine clean, I went for a ride for several blocks. When I got back there was as much oil as you can see in the picture.

I’ve also posted more pictures here.
Do you have any idea where it’s coming from? If you do, would you please drop me a line. Thanks
?Alvaro

 

[fernandol]

I think it has to be the front seal of the crankshaft. La estopera del cuello delantero del cigueñal.
Sorry for the spanish but my english is not to good for technical stuff.

 

[Zane]

I had a similar leak, but it was my Oil Pump Seal. I did write up on how I replaced mine here: https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=72514 While I was at it I replaced the Front Crank Shaft seal as well. Take a look, it may be your problem. If you have oil that is slung all around the inside of the BIG front crank pulley than its more than likely your front crank shaft seal, but if it is not, than it could be your Oil Pump Seal.

If you have not done so already, clean up all of the old oil and dirt then get under the truck while its running (safely) and see were the leak is coming from.

Good Luck.

 

[Cube Dweller]

Alvaro, not directly related, but you may want to find a self serve car wash, spray the area w/ engine cleaner, then hose it off to help better see where the oil is leaking from. From what I've read, those places are supposed to recycle the water and have settling tanks to keep the nasty stuff out of the creeks, etc.

Good luck on the leak. One thing the pros do is steam clean the engine, then add dye that shows up with a black light. I bet Napa sells the stuff.

Tony

 

[LX_TREME]

Mine worst than that had leaks front and rear.I replaced front crank seal, oil pump seal and rear main seal.From the pics its looks like leaking from the oil pump seal.Anyways when you replace the oil pump seal you may want to get new Philip head bolts and the part # 15183-66020 quantity #7 in case you stripped them out.

 

[RavenTai]

you can also make quick work of the grime with engine degreaser and an old tooth brush,

 

[alvarorb]

Guys,

Thanks for the replies.
I spent quite a bit of time cleaning the engine this morning and most of the gunk is out. It was a big mess.
I think it would be a good idea to just change the oil pump seal and the crank shaft seal while I'm at it.

Regards

Alvaro

 

[Dan_J-spec_fj62]

I gotta second the steam cleaning, the auto hobby shop on base has a "Hotsey" that I used on the underside of the subaru in my sig line, poor thing was covered in oil, dirt, grease, and spray on undercoating from the radaitor to the gas tank... 45mins later she was sparkleing clean... and if found 3 leaks that were easily fixe with new seals and tighting a few bolts... made finding the source of the leaks much easier.

good luck

dan

 

[clownmidget]

Alvaro, sorry to see your oil leak - I'm sure by now you have an idea of the amount of work involved to deal with any of the likely culprits. This looks pretty similar to the one I had two years ago (https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=9043 ). You're probably best served by replacing the oil pump seal, crankshaft seal and the upper oil pan arch. And you know what it takes to drop that upper oil pan, right? Not fun. But it'll be clean and sparkly under there when you're done. good luck.

and ditto on replacing the oil pump bolts.