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Leaking a quart of oil a week now through the timing cover crank seal. One more thing on the list. Starting to get yelled at for marking my territory all over the work parking lot.
I'm going to NY this weekend to pick up my sister in laws 04 3.5 v6 malibu. A shop quoted her $2200 to fix it up, so i helped her buy a $1700 grand cherokee a few weeks ago and she was gonna scrap the malibu but i said i want it. I shipped 2 new rear wheel bearings and new brakes up there, gonna hopefully make it 400 miles home, then do tie rod ends, struts, fuel guage sending unit, scrub the nasty interior, craigslist tires, fix the AC and fix the ABS. Then ill DD that while I fix the oil leaks and figure out the rattle from the rear suspension/exhaust/parking brake cable, then hoping to sell it for $1500-2000 and fund finishing the new motor/clutch/rear end for the Camaro.
The more I drive the Camaro and then drive my wife's car the more I don't ever want to go back to a boring DD.
The new motor is a refreshed stock shortblock with ARP rod bolts, ported stock heads and a 230/240 107.5 lsa .600/602 cam, pairing that with a competition clutches stage 2.5, and going back to a 9" but this time no spool, and 3.73ish gears instead of the 4.33s.
Last edited by bufmatmuslepants; 06-10-2015 at 05:48 AM.
Congratulations on getting her back on the road. Thanks for the laugh on your oil leak problems.
Good luck with all of the repairs. My H20 spline seal leaked the first time I replaced it. Second time I said screw trying to install it dry and oiled it up before using a marker case to guide it on. A little bit of oil made it so much easier - and no more leaks.
I'm 90% sure its the front crank seal. I used to wipe the underside of the car down before going to the track and one time cleaned the crank and then started it and saw it get wet again, so its either coming from the crank seal itself or dripping down from the waterpump drive seal. I hope its just the waterpump drive seal as that's much easier than pulling the hub, but well see next week when I have a second DD and can have some downtime with the car to pull it apart. It gets whipped off the crank and throws it all over the front of the motor, k member, etc and drips everywhere. It leaked a little when I first put this motor in, but not nearly this bad. I think sitting so long it dried the seal out more. There's no blowby, and no smoke out the exhaust, I have a breather on the valve cover instead of the thing that goes to the throttle body and no smoke blows out of that, but I'm wondering if the breather is causing the leak to be worse. The tube that went to the TB had dry rotted and ripped so I threw the breather on a few years ago. Could the breather being there instead of the tube to the TB drawing a vacuum be whats causing this to be worse?
Last edited by bufmatmuslepants; 06-11-2015 at 05:39 AM.
Had shipped new rear wheel bearings and new rotors to Long Island to the car to have parts there to diagnose the bad sound from the rear that a shop diagnosed as wheel bearings. Pulled the brakes and the rotors were completely deteriorated, but the wheel bearings felt fine, so I took a gamble and left them since it was pouring, I was in a gravel driveway, and it was pouring. Looked at the tires and they are lumpy from being old and on the rear for 50,000 miles, so I blamed the noise on the tires. Battery was dead, had auto zone charge and test it and it came out fine so I headed out to VA. I had done the front pads and rotors a year ago.
Got 30 miles in and was stopping for a Monster at 711 and the oil pressure light came on...****. Pulled the dipstick, dry. Added 2.5 quarts and light went away. College girls don't like to change oil.
Get to the GW and I'm in traffic and smell brakes. Realize it won't roll forward when I let off the brake, brake is sticking. Stop under a bridge because its pouring, left front is radiating heat. Jack it up, pull out the impact and get the wheel off, spit on the brake and it just fizzles for 2 minutes because its so hot. Beat on the caliper with a hammer and block of wood, say **** it the rain will cool it and head out again.
Driving along being careful not to use the brakes, the pad eventually wears down and its rolling well again. Made it home, and got 30mpg. Going to replace the caliper, fix the abs, replace the tires, fix the AC, fix the radio (won't turn on), drive it while i fix the oil leak on the Camaro, and hope to sell for $1500-2000 and fund more progress on the Camaro.
Last edited by bufmatmuslepants; 06-16-2015 at 06:27 AM.
Does the wiggle in my waterpump drive look like the oil leak culprit? The one on my other motor wiggles the same, if not more. Looks like I need a puller and keep going. Damnit.
Last edited by bufmatmuslepants; 06-24-2015 at 05:29 PM.
Mine did wiggle a hair bit when I replaced all the seals on mine. I did the whole ordeal with the Felpro timing cover kit.. Didn't work the first or second time, still leaking oil until I became so furious of people complaining my car leaked oil on there driveway, That I wanted to clobber them one if they spoke of it... Lol, third time was the charm for me. I did the whole sharpie trick and used a little oil on the deal before hand. So far she's sealed up good!
I got the felpro kit, was hoping I'd get lucky on the waterpump seal being it, but looking at the oil marks it looks more like the opti seal. Going to pull that tonight.
IT'S ALIVE! 3 months later, 4 crank hub pullers, finally got the crank hub off, replaced and the opti seal replaced. Baby was sleeping so only fired it for a second, but so happy.
I was able to get the hub off with the 4th puller by tapping it with a ball peen hammer. Crazy glued a 1/2" to 1/2" PVC coupler to a hockey puck and tapped in the new hub seal. Went to pull on the new hub and found the threads had gotten a little boogered up so took a bit to get the 7/16-20 threaded rod to take, then after the hub sat in the freezer for a bit I pulled it on.
Last edited by bufmatmuslepants; 09-15-2015 at 05:51 AM.
When I had everything off I cleaned the front of the motor. I drive it the other day and noticed a little oil on the driveway. Crap. Then drove it to drop tires off to get replaced on the Malibu and saw a little smoke coming from me at a light, then I lost power steering pulling into the tire place. Thought I tossed the belt, but nope, my lower radiator hose was touching my power steering pump and popped coolant everywhere. A walk a mile to autozone and I got a new hose, barrowed a wrench from the tire guy and swapped hoses in the parking lot. Then got home, noticed more oil leaking. Looks like the pan gasket this time, which I already suspected. Going to have to make some decisions, either drop the k member and replace the pan gasket, or wait and keep feeding it oil until I get the new motor assembled.
You don't have to drop the k-member. Clean the snot out of the oil pan and surrounding areas, drop the oil pan and work the gasket up from the outside of the pan. Since it's rubber it should not stretch. If you're getting a new motor you really don't have a lot to lose.
You don't have to drop the k-member. Clean the snot out of the oil pan and surrounding areas, drop the oil pan and work the gasket up from the outside of the pan..
This, musclepants this sounds harder than it really is. It's just really time consuming so you have to stay patient and calm. If you get frustrated and mad you can't do it. (Ask me how I know) I fucked up and took the timing chain cover off before dropping the pan like an idiot and had no choice but to replace the pan gasket.
Thanks, ill give that a shot. May take it on an 800 mile round trip for work and don't want to have to have a case of oil in the passenger seat.
Been there some that! Lol I got on the blue ridge parkway in Virginia and road it all the way down to the bottom of Cherokee, camped out at various campgrounds along the way, and every morning when I left it had to put a quart of oil in... hell, mine got so bad the pulleys were getting so slick the belt was slipping causing my car to terribly...
Cant believe all the issures you've been having. Hope you get it all worked out. I miss driving mine, im doing same thing trying to get it streetable so i can drive it again. Been trying to sources all the emission parts to put it back to stock. California sucks for emission, cant get it to pass smog.
It's crazy what time sitting, even just 2-3 years, can do to a car. Puck's thread shows his issues, his whole tank turned to goo. Mine is just seals and gaskets, and plug wires. I am disappointed in my Felpro oil pan and valve cover gaskets. I replaced them when I installed this motor summer 2008, and the valve cover gaskets are shredded, albeit the valve covers have been on and off a few times, but the pan gasket is leaking like crazy and I haven't touched that.
06-09-2015, 09:16 PM
I fucked up and took the timing chain cover off before dropping the pan like an idiot and had no choice but to replace the pan gasket. 
hell, mine got so bad the pulleys were getting so slick the belt was slipping causing my car to terribly... 