Oil leak
 

Just looking for suggestions.. I seem to have a small leak on my 85. I turned the car on sunday and let it warm up and it started smoking from the engine compartment pretty bad so I turned it off looked around and couldnt find anything. Turned it back on looked around, not even smoke this time, drove it to the store and back no smoke. I checked it again this AM no drips on the ground drove it in to work no smoke the entire time. After some close looking around it appears the majority of the drip seems to be falling right off the oil pan plug. The underside of the oil pan is mostly covered in oil and so is parts of the sway bar.

So what do you guys think? Oil pan gasket? any other possibilities? The oil seems to start below the engine, there isnt a spot of oil above the level of the oil pan.

anyone? Did I post this in the wrong spot.. doesnt seem to active here..

not as many people visit this section of the forum. If your oil is leaking from the pan gasket, then you should see what you are seeing. A leak that starts right at the seam of the pan and the bottom of the block. Sometimes things are so obvious, people don't want to believe its that simple. The trick question is why was it smoking? The bottom of the block doesn't (normally) get hot enough to burn oil. Keep checking around, and check while the engine is running for any dripping. [font color=red] Caution: Watch for hot or moving parts while the engine is running.[/font]

Ok so I cleaned off the old oil.. It was impossible to tell what was leaking oil and what was there all ready. You wouldnt believe the mess a ruptured oil line will make of your engine bay (that was last weeks excitement).. Yipes.. Drove it around some after cleaning it and drove it around more today and cant seem to find a drip of oil anywhere..

When it was smoking before I had the choke out.. Stoopid thing wont idle at all until its warm but thats a different problem. Maybe i left the choke out too long which caused it to smoke?

no, you have a 12a right? well if so; the o-rings from your oil cooler could be leaking down and causing oil to cake up around the pan. that's what has happened to my car and it first looked like an oil gasket leak, but it's my beehive. so i got new o-rings but havent put them on yet. give that a check too. other than that, pan gaskets are cheap and easy to replace. if it's just the plug, get some rtv and put it around the plug next oil change. hope this helps! :D

-zac

There are two popular oil leak spots and FBII has pointed out a famous one. The other is the oil metering pump (aka OMP). It's close to the oil drain plug AND close to the exhaust. I'd check that out. It's easiest to inspect if you remove your air pump. If it's caked with oil then I'd suggest rebuilding it. Fortunately rebuilding the OMP is easy and cheap. Give Mike at Lowe Performance a call at (941)-924-8597. He'll hook ya up with all the parts you need plus instructions for about 10 bucks. Good luck!

--Bob

Interesting on the OMP... The day before it started leaking i was installing new belts.. Well adding the belt for the air pump and found out the air pump wasnt aligned right (the top bolt was out and wouldnt align) so i had to loosen the lower bracket and pivot it a little. Is it possible that while the air pump was sorta just sitting there with all the nuts loosened I could have hit the OMP and dislodged it or cracked it or something?

The bolts that hold the OMP on do become loose over time. Mine were VERY loose. So to answer your question, yes, it is possible. It's also possible that one of the OMP lines got disconnected or broken. The plastic lines tend to get very brittle and will break easy. I'd inspect it very well if I were you. BTW, you can buy new lines at Mazdatrix.

--Bob


--Bob