Seems I have an oil leak somewhere near the top of the engine. Got Canadian tire to put some dye in and take a black light to it, they say they cant see it because its behind the alternator. Are there any problem areas I should look out for? Maybe some suggestions on where to look?
Thanks.
well could be a simple valve cover leaking from behind the engine, I dont knwo if you have an sr or not but if you do your turbo might be leaking which can cause oil to be found in the intake manifold.
Turbo is on the opposite side of the intake mani ^
What motor? assuming ka?
sorry yea, ka s14
and im not burning any oil. Cant see any visible oil from the valve cover either
front main seal.
is the car above 200k? say 250 ish?
is your main crank pully and whole lower half of teh motor front oil drenched?
KA always need a new main seal between 200-300k
my guess due to your alt. being covered
oil leaking on to your exhaust can lead to engine fire. be carefull
UPDATE.
missunderstood him on the phone because of poor reception. The leak IS behind the Alternator. Now I got something to go on finally. Anymore ideas? Im about to take a good look at a diagram or something to see whats up down there.
only things over there are the oil filter mount
and or timing chain cover
or oil pan, which untampered with should not leak.
front main seal is my vote
wow my bad, i ment to say ic piping not intake mani
how the heck do I take off this stupid main connector on the alternator? only the red part comes out right??
as you can see, i went a bit crazy on it.
and how hard is it to replace the main seal? done in a day?? :/:
And heres some more pics, thats where the main seal is located right? (hopefully cause ill feel like an IDIOT)
So where is this oil were supposed to be looking at? Looks clean to me under there.
And no, remove the whole plug, including grey part.
It does look super clean. How much work is a main seal anyway?
INORIGHT?! there IS fresh oil all over the bar bushing there (sway bar?).
and thanks haha, that stupid thing was pissing me off.
is canadian tire retarded you think? what else could be causeing my alt to die all the time? there was quite a bit of oil under there before they cleaned it though
In this pic, near the base of the strut tower, i scooped up 1/4" of oil accumulation. But the alt seems spotless.
KA alternators die ALL the time, replace it, move on with life. I have not known anybody with an s13 who didnt replace the alternator.
edit: Red band ones more prone to breakage, or is that just silly? (went through 2 red band, green band was fine)
yea im gonna do that once more, then if it happens again im gonna be super pissed.
Its just the 1L oil gone in 2 weeks im worried about now.
Burning? Is it leaking somewhere else? Main seal again?
List a few more things about your car:
Not burning, just leaking.
de, 150,xxxkm, coilovers (I bottom out a few times, but the pan isnt in rough shape.)
Still could have been enough to break the seal of the pan on the bottom end. Closer inspection on where the leaks are is gonna be necessary here, and how bad they are. Sounds like something has a hairline crack, wont really be able to see it, but will leak REALLY bad. Had a transmission done by mr transmission one time, looked fine, bolted it back in the car. week later, was EMPTY. they didnt tighten down ANY of the bolts, 2 had fallen out. Looks can be deceiving on your oilpan.
alright, thanks man.
Also, if it were the oil pan, it shouldnt really leak onto the strut tower and alt right? Anywho, i think I got enough of an idea to start some troubleshooting
if that is actually oil buildup on your strut tower and not just rustproofing or undercoating then I’d say almost for sure its the front main.
