Where the hell am I leaking oil?!

[Jon K]

Can anyone lend a moment and tell me where the hell this oil is coming from? My car leaks a good bit. I am trying to find out where the hell its coming from. At first I thought the oil filter housing (which it still could be!) but I checked the bolts above the alternator and they were all tight and I couldn't see anything obvious. I got on the ground and snapped these images:









Any one lend help?


Could it be the front crankshaft seal? It looks like the oil is thinnest around the crank pulley though, definitely looks like its "dripping from above" but I cannot tell!

Would the head leak oil? I can see a little moisture up there at the head, but that coil just be moisture from it being almost 200,000 old. No coolant in oil, no oil in coolant, very very minimal coolant loss (maybe a 1/3 quart every 5 - 7k miles.

[Dr. evil]

looks like the crank seal to me

[Dave M]

How wet is the head/block at the #1 cylinder? Do you have a pic? Since you mention the oil filter housing, whats the other side look like? When mine leaked it was very obvious it was the housing.

When you say its thinnest at the crank pully, do you mean the oil thins out once it reaches the area behind the balance (assuming its flowing down from above)? Oil texture looks fairly consistant from top to bottom in photos, which would lead me to put my $$ on the front seal. Maybe shove a long Q-tip in between the balancer and the timing cover and check for fresh oil.

More questions than answers,

Dave

[Jon K]

How wet is the head/block at the #1 cylinder? Do you have a pic? Since you mention the oil filter housing, whats the other side look like? When mine leaked it was very obvious it was the housing.

When you say its thinnest at the crank pully, do you mean the oil thins out once it reaches the area behind the balance (assuming its flowing down from above)? Oil texture looks fairly consistant from top to bottom in photos, which would lead me to put my $$ on the front seal. Maybe shove a long Q-tip in between the balancer and the timing cover and check for fresh oil.

More questions than answers,

Dave

I will get back to you on all of that!

[632 Regal]

agreed crank seal, you can see where its spraying the parts above it.

[Jon K]

agreed crank seal, you can see where its spraying the parts above it.

I guess this means I won't be fixing it. That bitch is HARD to replace, I need to get the crank bolt out with the engine in the car!

[winfred]

heres the same thing i tell our oily customers, lets wash it down and check back in a couple days and see whats leaking, kinda hard to diagnose a chia pet looking engine as to where the oil is coming from

[Jon K]

heres the same thing i tell our oily customers, lets wash it down and check back in a couple days and see whats leaking, kinda hard to diagnose a chia pet looking engine as to where the oil is coming from

Winfred - any preferred "wash" method on that there ****?

[Robert K]

When chasing a leak down, the first thing to do is clean it as well as you can. Once it's clean, you may even want to put the front end safely in the air, start the engine, and go looking for the leak with a flashlight. If you don't find it with the engine idling, take it for a short drive and come back and look again. But it is very difficult to locate a leak when everything in sight already has a coat of oil grime on it.

I don't know what engine you have, but I know on my 3.5 liter engine in my 535i, a large oil leak towards the front of the engine is almost always from the two bolts that hold the crank position sensor bracket to the timing chain cover. These two bolts go through the timing chain cover. If these bolts loosen up, which they are prone to do on the 3.5 liter engine, you will have a leak. As me how I know.

Hope you find it.

Grace and peace,

Robert K
1991 535i

[Ferret]

Here's a quick suggestion : check that the seal on the timing chain tensioner's not leaking - or backing itself out slowly... that's right underneath it.

EDIT: It looks like it's definitely coming from above, as if it was coming from behind the flywheel it'd have splattered that nice shiney turbo bit (I cant tell whether that's a wastegate or a dump valve :O ) with at least some small amount of crap...

I'd check the chain tensioner, and the plate that sits in front of the upper timing sprockets on the front of the head... that's the other possible culprit other than the rocker cover gasket.