tuner4life Posted February 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 I worked on this car some more over the weekend. I thought that the oil leak was coming from the 219k mile original oil cooler lines or an improperly sealed oil thermostat. So I pulled the lines and rebuilt them, replaced all of the o-rings, and replaced the rectangular oil thermostat gasket. I got it all put back together and drove it around for an hour running errands. Got home and everything underneath was covered in oil again.. Yay. So I made an evening out of it. I was going to find this leak! I pulled the timing belt cover and checked for leaks at the cam seals. Perfectly dry, so it was something lower.. I bought a case of brake cleaner and got to work cleaning everything. Once I was satisfied that the area was completely and totally dry, I started the car and let it run while laying underneath with a drop light looking for the first signs of seepage. Nothing.. Ugh.. Obviously it was leaking from somewhere near the lower front cover, but everything was perfectly dry after 15 minutes of warm idling. I had a helper rev the car up and down and hold the rpm at about 2k for about 20 seconds.. Then I see the oil start to creep out... From between the oil pump and the bore that it fits into? Weird... Here is what it looked like when it first started seeping: The tab sticking down from the oil pump is perfectly dry, so it's coming from behind that.. Then after holding the revs up for a while longer, the leak grew more obvious: Am I correct that it is the large o-ring that goes around the oil pump that has failed? Besides the o-ring and the round gasket, what all is needed to replace this? From what I've read, the oil pumps on these cars basically never fail. At 219k miles logic seems to dictate just changing the whole pump, but since it shows no signs of failing can I just reseal it and be good to go? The timing belt system is only a couple months old, I won't be replacing that stuff. Thoughts? I'm planning on taking care of this at the next oil change since I really don't feel like wasting another 7 qt of Mobil1 synthetic. I'll just top it off as needed until then. Also to update: The cheap ebay mufflers are a bust. On top of being way too loud, they have now developed a rattle from somewhere inside the can like something has come loose. Over the summer, they are going to be replaced with a pair of welded Flowmaster 40 series delta flow mufflers with some nice looking tips. Should have gone that way from the beginning. Oh well. Lastly, I took this picture of my cluster this morning to show off the new lights and lack of warning lights.. Then 5 minutes later in the way to work the CEL came on again. This car truly does hate me. I'll diag the light when I get home tonight.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oreo931 Posted February 1, 2016 Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 Oil pump seal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted February 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 (edited) That's what it seems like to me (The big o-ring right?). I keep reading that the oil pumps hardly ever fail. Should I be fine with just replacing the gasket and o-ring? At 219k miles should I change the pump too? I'd really rather not especially since it's over $200 and shows no signs of failure besides the seal leak.. I'm already so far over budget on this car lol Edited February 1, 2016 by tuner4life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blockpartie Posted February 1, 2016 Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 On paper it's as simple as replacing the seal(s). Unless the pump is damaged you shouldn't need to replace it. Maybe consider replacing the timing belt just to be sure, if there's oil on it definately replace it. 7 minutes ago, tuner4life said: I'm already so far over budget on this car lol Best not to have a budget when doing this. One thing less to worry about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted February 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 Ok, cool. Sounds like a plan. The timing belt job was just done a couple of months ago, so I'll be reusing that. Haha! Trust me, I understand about the budget. I gave myself well over what I estimated I would need when I bought it and passed that up a while ago. It's not nearly as much the money (I am most certainly going to make sure that things are done right), I just have other projects that I want to work on and this one keeps taking all the resources. Its all good though. Finally closing on on that light at the end of the tunnel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojojo Posted February 1, 2016 Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 I would just reseal the pump. I wouldn't worry about replacing timing components either. I've been fighting a leak in the same vicinity lately... I may have it resolved, but I need to take the car in for alignment before I drive much on the new tires. Do the job on a cold engine, Jack up just the passenger side, and I would think most oil should gravitate to the opposite side, spilling very little... At least that would beat covering the car in oil. I've been really concerned with contaminating the rubber in the right side mount, causing premature failure... Shared you get the hose for the oil lines? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted February 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 (edited) Thanks Mojojo. The hose came from O'Reillys, I believe the part number is 27066 and is made by gates. It's 1/2" diameter oil cooler hose. Just grind a slit on the crimped part of the old hose (be very careful not to grind too far down and destroy the metal pipe). Use a large flat blade screw driver to finish splitting the crimped metal piece. Once that is split give the hose a few twists and pull it off the pipe. The new hose fits snugly and should be double clamped. I've done this on several different types of cars and I have never had one fail prematurely. No sense on spending hundreds on new hoses. Edited February 1, 2016 by tuner4life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted February 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 Just to update, the code from this morning's CEL was P0133 which evidently points to the front o2 sensor being bad.. That's on the short list of things that haven't been replaced yet, so doesn't surprise me. Also kind of explains my averaging only 20mpg highway recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted February 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2016 (edited) So going through the oil pump procedure, it seems pretty straight forward. The only thing that I can't figure out is what if any sealant goes on the round flat gasket behind the oil pump? Or does it get installed dry? Edited February 2, 2016 by tuner4life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizzard_al Posted February 2, 2016 Report Share Posted February 2, 2016 VIDA says nothing about any sealer on the oil pump. Of course, it also neglects to mention the o-ring around the pump. I was putting together a block to potentially ship to someone, and I put in a new o-ring, and I was amazed that it was too big. It actually didn't fit the pump tightly. I wonder if you got an o-ring that didn't fit well, and folder over on the way in, and left a space for oil to leak? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted February 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2016 (edited) It is possible. I have never had the pump out myself, but who knows what the previous owner did. I usually lube up o-rings liberally before pushing them into bores as to avoid rolling them. We'll see how it goes.. I've got the oil pump seal kit ordered as well as the front o2 sensor. I was planning on waiting to fix this but screw it I'm impatient, hopefully I'll have it done this weekend. On a nicer note, she still looks good. I've been playing around with photobucket editor.. Edited February 2, 2016 by tuner4life 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayAway Posted February 4, 2016 Report Share Posted February 4, 2016 all you have to do with that oring gasket is cover it in oil and MAKE SURE it seats right when you put it back together. Ive done one before and ruined it because it didnt seat right. A little oil to keep it sticky made the job a breeze, Mind you its not an easy part to take off and put on irrc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted February 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 Thanks, We'll see how it goes. The parts should be delivered today and I will work on it tonight. I already have it torn down to the point where all I have to take off is the timing belt and the oil pump, so just short of halfway done already. As long as the o-ring fits and installs properly, I hope to have it back on the road tonight with the right side of the undercarriage dry for the first time in my ownership. Fingers crossed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted February 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2016 (edited) The oil pump reseal went smoothly and the leaks at the front of the engine seem to be gone! Yay! There is still a slight leak coming from what I can only imagine is the rear main seal that I am not going to worry about at this time. My wife has finally started daily driving this and as long as there isn't another failure this week, the in-laws will be taking delivery of the silver 850 next weekend. I am relieved to finally get ahead of this thing a little. There are still some things that will get improved on, but it is roadworthy at this point and seems to get compliments everywhere it goes. Cleaned up and ready for DD family hauling! (Don't mind Indiana's winter "permacloud" that makes everything look gloomy till spring) And finally parked in her garage spot instead of in the shop! Edited February 8, 2016 by tuner4life 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted February 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2016 (edited) In this edition of "The Weekly CEL"... P0102.. Points to the MAF, or possibly a vacuum leak somewhere. Fml. Gonna be another late night. For the P0102 code.. As long as the vacuum lines are good, the issue has to be the MAF, correct? Might swap out the MAF from my parts car for good measure anyways. Every vacuum line on this car has been replaced with silicone, so I'm doubting a vacuum leak is the culprit. Just trying to get a handle on this so that when I get home at 10:30 tonight I can rule things out fairly quickly. Edited February 9, 2016 by tuner4life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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