Well while doing an oil change recently, I spotted a sign of a small oil leak at the bottom of the timing belt covers. What's odd is that there is never any dripping on the garage floor, or wherever I park. I guess it just falls off in motion.

Anyway, I went to take off the outer belt covers to see if I could locate the leak, but attempting to do so only resulted in 'stripping' some of the fasteners. Specifically, some of the bolts go into nuts which are set in the plastic of the cover, with serrated edges or something along those lines. When I turned the bolt the nut turned with it, so the bolt won't come out. Anyone else run into this?

Yes, that's a common problem. I've forgotten how I fixed it - maybe drilling a small hole at right angles to the bolt axis, through the plastic casing and partially into the nut, then securing it with a pin. Alternatively cut away the plastic so that you can grip the nut.

there is always the JB weld method.

 

Clean out the hole the metal sleve goes in.

 

on the workbench unscrew the sleeve from the bolt.

 

dab some mix on the outside of the sleeve and then stick it in the cleaned out plastic holes.

 

let it set as they recomend and then scre the covers back on just don't (grin) reef down on them this time :cool:

A little PB Blaster wouldn't hurt either.

Your leak is your front crank seal.

I have a similar problem. Oil leaking out of the timing cover(or so I thought) and getting on the cat and smelling real nice. Well, two weeks ago, I replaced the timing belt, and while I was in there, I replaced the front crank seal and oil pump o-ring. Of course it was good scraping away the old silicone and cleaning it off with acetone. The long and short of it is that I am still getting an oil leak from up there somewhere.:madder:

Did you make sure that you polished the shaft where the oil seal touches, and lubricated it with a drop of oil? I've done the repair on several cars and never had a leak. Possibly teh O ring dropped on assembly.

I wiped the crank clean and made shure the new seal was lubed. The o-ring was of a newer design than the one I replaced and fit in there snug, so I'm pretty shure it didn't come out. Damn haynes didn't say anything about buffing the crank though:rolleyes: The thing is, the front of the pump cover did not look like it had oil running down it for 10k miles. Therefore I am second guessing as to where it is coming from.

 

As a side note, I put on 24k miles on the crappy gravel roads of Sanilac County, Michigan this last summer, in 14 weeks. Both front wheel bearings were toast, if that gives any idea how rough it was.

When you had the oil pump off did you make sure the five + head screws on the back side were tight? Did use use and OEM seal?

It's also a good idea to lightly smooth the block and oil cover surfaces with gasoline on 600 wet and dry. I always do a final clean with alchol. Did you use something like Permatex Ultra Black, and wait 24 hours afterwards?

 

I recently did the front bearings too. It would be best if you have a hydraulic press for this - I somewhat damaged the tread on my 6 inch vice pressing them in.

even the dealer breaks them here. This is in CA where we do not even recognise snow.

The cover on mine was broken by the dealer and it had never been off before. If it cannot be removed without breaking here it is not likely to be easy in a salt state.

This is one of those things that if I ever remove myself I would be likely to refit in brass.

For years I have used brass nuts on exhaust systems, especially manifolds, and it really pays if you have to remove them yourself later.

This is all great to know after the fact.

Unfortunately, I did not have the luxury to wait 24 hours for it to cure, as I had to get back to school as soon as I could, which was three hours away. I did not check the bolts on the back side as I was a little hurried. The 600 grit is definately a good idea, noted for future reference. As this was the first time I had done the timing belt, I was breaking lots of new ground. I will not have time to dig back into it untill christmas break. Oh, and yes I used the $5 OEM o-ring and an OEM crank seal.

 

It was one of those deals where you spend more of your time finding what you need than doing the job. I had a heck of a time finding a chain wrench to hold the crank pully. It was a Sunday, and most of the guys at the autoparts stores looked at me like I was speaking french. Ended up finding a strap wrench at Ace, which bareky held enough to crackthe bolt. Ahh, the joys of auto repair.

hey slideways,

my 90 loyale was leaking from the rubber grommets around the bolts that hold the valve cover gasket. Slid down and stinkeroo on the exhaust. A local shop had replaced the valve cover gasket and grommets but whatever non SOA part they used, all of the grommets leaked. Months later when I realized where the leak was coming from, the shop actually tried to charge me to replace their defective work (defective part). Sorry for venting. Anyway, I didn't see what car you were driving so just a guess.