The engine is out for head gasket repair, clutch, and valve job.

 

History: I had a bad head gasket which I hope was the cause of coolant in my oil (but not the other way around). Prior to that, I had coolant leaking into the driver's cabin, presumably from a bad heater core, but I couldn't swear to that. I did order a new core and will gladly accept advice on the fastest way to replace it.

 

I was just looking at what exactly is under there and viola! drops of oil on the bolts holding up the wiring and or fuse box. This oil was clean. I will try to get photos. What could this mean?

 

OH... forgot to mention I had used STOP LEAK as a stop gag measure to prevent my socks from smelling like antifreeze everyday. There is deposit of the gunk forming like a stalagmite just under the pipes leading to the heater core. The stop leak worked well and in fact gunked up my entire engine block because it was being pumped through the oil system as well as the water system.

 

But these oil drops are clean.

strange, its a pretty rare occurance but any chance your getting oil draw thru the speedo cable?

...drops of oil on the bolts holding up the wiring and or fuse box. This oil was clean. I will try to get photos. What could this mean? ... But these oil drops are clean.

 

Are you Sure it is Oil?

 

Because if it is Clean as you wrote, and the area you Found it makes me Think it Could Be Brake Fluid (mixed with Dust) coming from the Master Cylinder to the Brake Booster and from there to the area you Wrote.

 

Pictures could Help but I Kindly Suggest you to Check & Follow those Wires from the Brake Area for Brake Fluid Leaks.

 

Kind Regards.

Are you Sure it is Oil?

 

Because if it is Clean as you wrote, and the area you Found it makes me Think it Could Be Brake Fluid (mixed with Dust) coming from the Master Cylinder to the Brake Booster and from there to the area you Wrote.

 

Pictures could Help but I Kindly Suggest you to Check & Follow those Wires from the Brake Area for Brake Fluid Leaks.

 

Kind Regards.

 

I agree, that is the most probable source for being near the fuse box.

Good luck!

Could be. It didn't smell like... anything to me, which means it didn't smell like oil actually. Here are some photos.

 

And by the way, if you don't mind. I think I got two left handed head gaskets in my kit. I wouldn't think it is cool to flip one front to back to get it to fit. These gaskets seem to have two very different sides to them. (sorry... I am a head gasket virgin) Have a look.

 

I will post separately as well.

 

Thanks.

not sure how to get photos inline. please advise.

 

pps sorry my head gasket pics don't show the bottom of the gasket, but it is not shaped symmetrically to the upper half as seen in this photo.

Edited April 22, 201213 yr by thedoctor

The most probable source of anti-freeze on the driver's side floorboards is actually the control valve under the kick panel near the accelerator pedal. It's a set of two metal tubes. When you turn your temperature selector from cold to hot on the climate control it opens this valve to allow coolant to flow through the heater core. They are known common sources of leakage. I would check there before pulling your dash for the core replacement.

 

They oil you see looks like the same stuff I have found on every ea81 under the dash. I assumed it was the old style of dielectric grease. I have never found out for sure. I recently pulled the instrument cluster from my '81 and cleaned a bunch of that stuff out of there. Check some of your connectors to see if it's in there too. I always found some in the pink connectors for the ignition switch, but if you are driving an ea82 they might not be pink.

 

BTW what vehicle are we talking about?

Edited April 22, 201213 yr by ferox

Since you can see the pushrod going into the brake booster in the background of your picture and it's dry, the only other source of oily fluid is the speedometer cable.

 

Take a close sniff of the oil and see if it smells like gear oil. If it does that sucks. Really sucks. I tried everything I could to replace the seal on the speedo driveshaft coming out of the transmission on a legacy and couldn't get it out. I resorted to converting the dash over to an electronic speedo and swapping the cable for a VSS. That car was wicking up so much oil that it was dripping on the drivers legs, so I had to do something.

Re: the coolant leak possibly from the heater control valve. Where can I get a replacement or can I replace it with a reach under dash valve of my own?

 

Re: is it brake fluid or is it transmission gear oil? I will investigate that.

Re: the coolant leak possibly from the heater control valve. Where can I get a replacement or can I replace it with a reach under dash valve of my own?

 

You can still get these new. Last time I checked, the cheapest I found was $110 online. I opted for a junkyard unit that looked good, meaning, it did not show any signs of coolant residue on the outside.

 

Re: is it brake fluid or is it transmission gear oil? I will investigate that.

 

If it were gear oil you would smell it, but you said it did not smell. Did it remove the paint off of your ecu box?

I need to concentrate on this oil problem now and worry about the heater later. I do believe this is coming up through the speedometer cable. I did not reach up and remove the cable yet. I did remove three 10mm bolts to allow the black box to hang down by the wires and drip a puddle of oil. Oil is also running down the underside of the steering column. It isn't brake fluid. It does smell like gear oil, although the transmission dip stick oil smells stronger I'd say.

 

When I checked the transmission it was overfilled about 2X for some unknown reason. Perhaps this would increase pressure inside the transmission and push oil up the speedometer cable.

 

But is there a blown seal somewhere?

Another stupid question: Can an over-filled crank case contribute to an over-filled transmission?

 

Is there any connection? I had a head gasket problem that (I think) resulted in lots of coolant going into the crank case.

 

I seriously do not know how the tranny got filled x2.

Can an over-filled crank case contribute to an over-filled transmission?

 

Is there any connection?

 

No

Thats quite a lot for a spedo cable but it does happen. Can be a few things.

 

1-blocked air breather line for the dif

2-failed oring

3-worb spedo gear (posiibly, on some cars they are grooved to keep oil from going up the cable.

 

Now I looked this up and found this

http://opposedforces.com/parts/legacy/us_b11/type_2/manual_transmission/mt_speedometer_gear/

 

I know this is not your year, but it doe show an oil seal. I don't know if yours has one but I would imagine it would. They can make quite a mess, consdiering thats how a screw pump operates.