help me diagnose this...I was driving my car up to go wheelin, when I stopped at a rest-stop to use the restroom. When I got back to the car, my girlfriend informed me that the car was smoking a bit...

 

so I pop the hood, and find oil splattered all over the engine, appears to be coming from the passenger side front of the engine. I'm suspecting cam seal, but I'm not sure. Drivers side t-belt is fine, so I've ruled out main seal, and any oil pump seals. but it got all over the passenger side t belt, and splattered up and down, and blew back all over everything all the way back to the firewall, so It's hard to tell. A nice man came over and offered me a hand, we talked for a minute, and he was sure it was head gasket. how can I be sure?

it seems rare that a cam seal would suddenly let go. but not impossible i guess.

 

having not seen it i'd venture to guess that it might even be the power steering pump, the rubber hose could have sprung a leak.

Is the oil on the top or bottom of the engine. If it's on the top, that rules out the HG, as the oil passage into the head is on the bottom.

 

The cam seal is fairly likely. I would also wonder about the little reinforced O-ring that seals the passage between the head and cam tower, but like the HG, that would leak only on the bottom of the engine.

If it's a head gasket your oil would look like chocolate milk, and so would your coolant. Also is there bluish white smoke coming out the tail pipe? Also a tell tale sign of blown head gasket.

 

Any chance you might have over filled the oil and it came back out the dipstick? It happens a lot actually!

no, I do know I didn't have too much oil....in fact, I know it was low when I left...I know it's oil, definately not power steering fluid...it wasn't a horrible leak, I put my extra quart in it, which brought it up to about half (again, it was low to begin with), and it was barely down to the 'fill' mark on the dipstick by the time I got home (about 1/2 hour drive), the oil appears to be more on the top than the bottom, it got on the electric fan somehow and got sprayed everywhere, which makes me think it came out with some pressure, but that doesn't explain the lack of quantity.

 

and my JBWeld is still holding that valve cover bolt tight!

 

no other signs of head gasket failure (coolant/oil mixing, or smoke)

 

I've been suspecting that it's been missing some...but it's so rare and unpredictable, it might just be my paranoia, and a bump in the road.

i know my oil cap likes to get loose, and there will be a little bit of smoke and oil on some of the surrounding parts.

i know my oil cap likes to get loose, and there will be a little bit of smoke and oil on some of the surrounding parts.

the same thing that's happening with my car! and have to check it once in a while! i use a thin plastic to cover it then put the cap to make it sealed tight!

bump

 

I really doubt that it was coming out of the filler cap or dipstick, since it definately didn't get worse (it got better if anything) after adding a quart of oil...but I dunno, maybe I loosened it before I left when I meant to put oil in, and forgot about it...