My car is starting to leak some oil. It's noticable underneath the alternator and below on the oil pan. About 10k miles ago I changed the timing belt along with the main crank seal, o-ring, etc. Everything was clean at that point (in the pics, the timing belt cover has not been cleaned since I changed the timing belt, everything behind there was clean when I did that work). I did the same thing on my wife's car at the same time, and her car isn't leaking a drop, so I think the sealant I used on the oil pump is ok. Take a look at the pics below, is there anything else around that area that could be causing a leak like that? Or do I need to pull the oil pump back off and re-do it? Thanks, oh, and that extra wire is from my diy grounding mod... edit: 2000 outback sport with ej22. 104k miles. And the reason I'm getting concerned is that it's starting to lose a noticable amount of oil, I'm about 1/4 quart low after only a few hundred miles.
also, its probably getting sort of tired, it doesnt look like its leaking all the oil out it may be using some, any beating on it lately? EDIT: that isnt may miles at all, what kind of oil are you using? i know when i ran synthetic, it drank it, i run dino oil again and it uses not much at all
I usually take it pretty easy. Once in a while I'll run it hard up to 60 or 70mph, shifting at 5k+ rpm. I'm running 5w30 dino. The engine does have a bit of a knock to it, but it's been like that for a while now. I was afraid it was the oil pump or crank seal, I just wasn't looking forward to redoing that again so soon... it'll make a good holiday vacation project I guess.
the oil on top is from the oil pressure sending unit. there is a tiny seal on top that gets old and wears out. mine did this and my dads. we got new oil pressure sending units (like $10 ea at dealership) problem solved. also to note is that IIRC the OPSU is the same size as a 19mm socket for easy removal. although i might be mistake on that, cuase i had a feed attachmetn on there too. oil pan oil, could be a bad oil pan gasket. if you did the oil pump gasket your prolly good there. atleast i would try other places first cause its alot of work to just do an oil pump gasket. i might suggest re-doing the oil pan with RTV. Also when i was leaking oil from the oil pump / front seal my oil pan was soaked, your just looks kinda wet at the top.
Thanks for the info. Does the oil pan come off easily? It looks kinda close to the crossmember in the back, does the engine need to be jacked up?
