my car is starting to leak from the front cover. my car is the one in my sig. it have 72000 miles on it. it looks like it is leaking from my oil pan/timing cover. i have pictures to get yalls opinion. i have been doing some searching. my question is do i need to change the whole oil pan seal, or is there a way to reseal the gasket? do i need to remove the whole pan, drop the front of the pan, or only remove the timing cover. i will be replacing the seals while the timing cover is off.

also any tips/how to for this fix??

 

You at least have to drop the front of the pan to get it out without ruing the seal that is there. There is a lip on the cover that goes into the oil pan maybe a ¼ to ½ inch.

 

So you think I can reseal the cover and fix the leak?

 

If it's done correctly, yeah. It would fix your leak.

 

Replace Water pump drive seal, opti seal and crankshaft seal. You need to lower the pan to do the timing cover gasket.

Also remove the intake and seal the "china walls" with new/better sealant.

 

To me it looks like it's leaking from the front crank seal, or perhaps the opti seal. I'd start by replacing the crank seal, drive it around and see if it continues to leak. If so, work your way up to the opti and w/p seals.

 

thanks for the replies guys. im 80% sure its coming from the crank seal. iv decided im gonna take the timing cover off and replace all the seals on it. get everything in one shot. it may be more work, but in the long run, i think its worth it. also thinking about replacing my timing chain as well

 

OP

I would confirm source of leak before diving into this. Clean the area and drive then look closely for the leak source

It is SIGNIFICANTLY more work to replace the "timing cover" gasket than just the seals "on" the timing cover. You need to drop the front of the pan to remove the actual timing cover. The timing cover gasket (between TC & block) rarely is the source of a leak

The most common TC seal leak is the WP drive seal. You need to remove the damper, WP & Opti to replace. To replace the crank seal (less likely to leak but they can) you need to remove the crank hub. Not rocket science but you do need the right puller/install took to do it. FelPro front timing cover gasket/seal kit is around $12 at most auto part stores. The WP & Opti seal need to be installed "dry" and the WP drive seal can be tricky to install without folding over the inner seal lip. There is a special "tool" needed or some form of homemade version works...including using the WP drive coupler itself

TC seal leaks drip down and "look" like pan gasket leaks as the oil collects at the lowest point of the motor from drips/leaks from above

 

To add to ***** post...intake manifold leaks are very common. I was convinced I had a rear main seal leak. Rioped out the trans did a new seal. Cleaned everything then drove for a week only to find small drips/film on the bottom of the bell housing. Turns out my intake "china walls" were leaking badly.

My point is, the front china wall on the intake could be leaking and going down the TC and this is only with 77k mi.

Like ***** said, clean everything and let it sit. See if you find seepage. If not drive it for a day and let it sit. See if you can find the leak. If you do a crank seal you might as sell do the crank,WP drive seal and opti seal all at once.

 

thanks for the suggestions guys. im almost positive it coming from where the timing cover and oil pan gasket meet. the crank seal is seeping as well. i am not ruling out the opti and water pump drive gear seal though. i will be changing all 3 of the seals regardless.

 

If it is the oil pan gasket, there is no need to drop the pan any lower than to just remove the bolts. Because the gasket it rubber it has enough elasticity to stretch around the outside of the oil pan and keep its shape. Just make sure to clean the outside of the pan thoroughly before doing so. It really is difficult to know if it is indeed the pan because there are so many other places for oil to leak from and collect right at that spot.