Mpls Funk

Hi all - so the more I want to try and fix, the more I find is wrong...getting depressed! I was laying under the car trying to find where my power steering fluid is leaking and I happened to notice oil on the bottom of the oil pan. Not near the drain fitting, but the other end, towards the front of the car. I snapped a few pictures (not the greatest quality - they were from my phone)...can anyone give me a good guess where this oil is leaking from or what the problem is? Please use small words as I'm not nearly as smart as all of you!

Thanks for your help...




http://flickr.com/gp/66721694@N07/0Dv683



http://www.flickr.com/photos/66721694@N07/9428995785/http://www.flickr.com/photos/66721694@N07/9431762694/http://www.flickr.com/photos/66721694@N07/9428992763/

MelWff

clicking on the photos leads to a Yahoo sign on screen, no pictures. With out pictures a guess would be timing cover crank seal but again like with your PS leak you have to clean everything off to be sure.

mrmagrath

Probably the front seal. You'd have to pull the harmonic balancer and fit a new one.

Mpls Funk

ok - hopefully you can now see the pictures! Any advice and how to fix (and how hard it is to fix) would be greatly appreciated!

LS4 PILOT

front seal and oil pan gasket will cure a lot of that.

see if any is running down the back of block

these old cars will have lots of problems......I had a power steering hose , repop, go bad after one year...so it never ends......Inferior parts don't help either

when you first buy a 40 year old car, every time you fix something, you'll liable to find another five items worn, or non operating good, at least till you ve had the car a few years and get most stuff handled

it's a huge battle , cars neglected for years with little work to the important components.

hang in there .....Rome wasn't built in day.......it could take years to sort out the majority of issues.

TimAT

From the available pictures, I'd say the front cover/balancer seal is where the leak is. Drop the pan, pull the water pump and front cover, replace the timing chain, (most likely needs that anyway) then reinstall the cover and pan. Look a the balancer where the seal rides- if it's got a groove in it, you can replace the balancer$$ or install a speedi-sleeve.$

Mpls Funk

Thanks for the comments and support. I'm new at this and trying to learn. I imagine the oil pan is not a big deal...I assume it's as simple as draining the oil, then removing a series of bolts and the pan drops down? That is something I can handle. But what about the front seal? How much work/how hard is that to do?

TimAT

None of it is bad. The oil pan, you need to remove 2 bolts on the right side and lower the idler arm and relay rod- with the bolts out, it just pulls down. That gives you enough room to get the pan out.
The front cover, you have to remove the fan, belts and water pump. Auto Zone will rent a remover and installer tool for the balancer, once it's off, a few more bolts and the front cover is off. Timing chain is right there. Easy change for that. Back to Auto Zone for a puller for the lower gear, Heat the new gear in the over at 350* for 45 minutes and it'll slip right on the crank. Clean everything really well, new gaskets and seals, put it back together, fill with oil and go for a drive.

1976wanderlust

If your Corvette is not leaking oil....You're out of oil.

FatCat

Hey brother! I feel you, just love the car and fix things as they need it or you want to play. I just rebuilt my first engine on mine and still ended up with a few small leaks. Every small project I take on turns into a whole lot of projects. I finally get to a point where something isn't a great issue and say "I will do that this winter" hahaha. Enjoy the process of bringing the old thing back to life.