strange grinding and oil leak

[Ghost]

i went to start the car the other day and i heard sorta of a crunching noise like something was caught in a belt. i looked under the hood and didnt see anything. tried starting it again and it was fine.

now every once in a while (maybe once every mile) i hear a grinding sound for a second. sounds sorta like metal dragging, it does change sound with speed or engine rpm... always the same sound.... varies from half a second to 2 seconds long. seems to happen randomly as well.

and then i noticed i had a pretty bad oil leak. the oil level is still fine in the car, but it left a 4 in puddle under my car when i parked for about half an hour yesterday. i drove it home and parked it until i can figure out whats going on. the leak appears to be coming from the side of the block near the tranny... not the oil pan.

[M3NTAL]

Rest main seal is probably the leak your seeing, idk about the noise though.

[FestYboy]

does the car have to be in motion to hear the noise, or will it do it sitting in nutral?

[FB71]

trans input bearing and seal...

[FestYboy]

^ very likely that!

Jason, you need to see me about that trans...

[Damkid]

Or worse case, the diff pin started coming out (but not all the way out) and put a hole in your bell housing.... That happened to me, drove the car home, pulled the engine thinking i needed to change the rear main but ended up putting a new tranny in

[Ghost]

^ very likely that!

Jason, you need to see me about that trans...

yes. and tires.

it does it while im sitting as well because it did it when i started the car that first time. that was the only time i heard it while sitting. it happens enough to scare me, but not enough to analyze it very wellsometimes while accelerating, sometimes while decelerating. sometimes when i hit a bump. sometimes when im just cruising

i guess i need to get it in the shop and see whats up. the car is parked for now

gahhh.... so much to do

[Ghost]

oh btw... it is definitely leaking engine oil, not tranny fluid.

and the grinding sound sounds like it is coming from the passenger side of the engine bay

[WmWatt]

Quick check would be to inspect drive belt and pulleys.

[Ghost]

i have several times and i cannot find anything

[FestYboy]

timing tentioner bearing?

[zoe60]

Maybe the oil leak could be the distributor O ring. Or even the valve cover gasket.

[Ghost]

yeah i guess it is possible that the two arent related

[WmWatt]

A piece of garden hose in one ear might help locate the noise. My engine is just naturally noisy making it hard to locate sounds without some sort of aid.

[roycehof]

I would remove the v-belt and see if it still does it. That would let you know if it was alternator or water pump bearings or not. While you have the belt off- spin them and see how they feel. If it makes the noise with the v-belt off then I would suspect the timing belt tensioner. Good Luck!