Oil Leak: Still trying to find it...

[ajbremer]

Today I got into working on the Festiva.

The first thing I did was removed the timing belt cover and it was all tore up from rubbing. I think I heard of people saying that it happens a lot with them, what's up with that - why? Do people ever just leave them off? After that, I found out that my a/c compressor belt was totally gone.

Then I commenced to removing that air filter box, the top side of the filter looked pretty clean and I was really surprised when I removed it to see that the whole box was totally full of pecan nuts! Then I removed the water pump pulley. Well, after all of that I could see things a little better but I still have no idea where the leak may be coming from. The oil was all over the top of the left side of the engine and also dripping down from the bottom in many different areas.

Another member here suggested that I change the crank and cam seals. Is that a huge job?

The other day I was trying to figure out what my problem was and I found that the oil filter was totally loose! So I tightened it and thought that that was the problem. I took it for a ride and after around 40 miles or so it lost most of its oil.

Just to let ya'll know, I've looked closely around the valve cover gasket and really can't see any sign of leakage. The only place I can't see around the valve cover is directly behind the timing belt and I'm wondering if oil could be spurting out from there.

Oh well, back into it tomorrow. You think its worth removing my oil pan and checking and/or changing that gasket? Thanks.

[caprisecca]

Re: Oil Leak: Still trying to find it...

If its not leaking from your oil pan visibly then don't change it. That basket is a pain in the arse to get on without more leaking. Ask me how i know

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[drumnerd33]

Take some pics... will be easier for us to help you track it down. by left side do you mean the front of the motor? If so then could be your cam and crank seals as you mentioned. I did mine @ around 200k miles and it was way over due, i also had a very bad leak from the dizzy o-ring, and valve cover is a common one. Easiest way to tell where its leaking is look for the cleanest spot with fresh oil... the spot that is leaking will actually look kinda clean but all around it will be very dirty.

[1990new]

Oil Leak: Still trying to find it...

If you end up changing seals on oil pan or valve cover be sure that you follow bolt torque specs. First time when I did not, I over tightened and ruined both.
Sounds like crank seals probably front and rear are gone if losing oil so fast.

[drumnerd33]

If your rear main seal is leaking it will be coming out of your bell housing... the problem with finding leaks is when you drive the turbulence from the air throws the oil every where so if you look underneath you wont be able to tell anything. 2 ways to find it is #1 look for clean spot with fresh oil.. #2 clean the engine good with brake cleaner and air then start it and rev to 2000 or just under for like 5 minutes then shut it off and look for fresh oil.

[drumnerd33]

Just saw your pic on the other thread you started, yeah looks to be your cam and crank. they are not to hard and honestly with that many miles, like others said i would do the timing belt, cam and crank seals, and prob even do the valve cover unless its been done not too long ago... also would look for oil leaking around the distributor cuz those o-rings never get changed either. this way you would have all new oil seals.

[georgeb]

I would pressure wash it. If it's coming out everywhere it might be from excess crankcase pressure (blowby). I patched mine with a different vent arrangement.

[RhodeStiva]

Oil Leak: Still trying to find it...

Mine splattered on passenger side
It was leak through cam and crank seal and oil pan gasket one that side.

[ajbremer]

Ok, thanks for all of your replies.

I about to dive into this 'engine rebuild' but am a little hesitant. I've never gone this far into any engine before and I probably have most tools that I need but I'm wondering if it's just not worth it. I've looked for an engine online but there hard to come by, unless you want to pay 5 or 6 hundred or more bucks and for that money I can add a little more and buy a used Festiva. The car is in the driveway so I would be working on it not even under a shade tree.

Since I'm getting this deep into the engine, most people are saying that I might as well change just about all seals and gaskets that I can. I'm just trying to imagine how much time this will take me away from like doing overtime at work - 'might as well make money and just buy another festiva' is a thought that keeps coming back to me.

If I did just dive into this seal/gasket engine job, how long could something like this take and how difficult is it, and do I need any special tools?

I have a friend who's worked on many festivas and he says that its just best to get another engine and that it's not hard at all to remove the engine. Is it more difficult to do the seal/gasket job than to simply remove the engine and put another one in?

I realize that I have a bunch of questions here, I'm just weighing all the possibilities. I'm going to go back into some of the forums threads and investigate the aspire/mazda engines and look for some of them online. Thanks for all of your help and I hope to hear from you.

[georgeb]

Pull the valve cover vent while idling to check for blowby (passage to tube must be plugged). It should be sucking, not blowing. If blowing, replace vent hose then pull PCV. If not blowing, baffle might be clogged. If blowing, blowby is high indicating bad rings. I rigged up a modified vent system on mine to get me through the winter. It was blowing oil out of every seal before.

[drumnerd33]

Re: Oil Leak: Still trying to find it...

Yes it is easy to change the engine but I would not say easier then doing the seals.... The seals are easy and do not require any special tools hardest part is prob getting the old seal out which is pretty easy, they have special tools for it but you can just use whatever you have to puncture it and pull it out.

So there is a few things to think about between rebuilding or just throwing another engine in. First of all if you rebuild is it something you can do and want to spend the time doing? Second are you doing basic rebuild or gonna make it better? The advantage to rebuilding vs swapping is you will have a brand new motor... In other words another 200,000 miles or up to what you have now in lots of cases... Or you swap and have no idea what the previous owner did to that motor and how long it will last... Most used engines you will find are gonna be high mileage, so how long do you want the new motor to last? If you rebuild you know what you did to it, and you can trust it, and you will have not one leak. Just some things to think about... Also rebuilding is not hard, you can buy a Haynes to walk you through the steps and ask questions on here for help... Biggest thing is time, it will take you longer to rebuild vs swap so if you have time no biggy but especially being new to rebuilding it will take you some time.

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[econoaddict]

I have a friend who's worked on many festivas and he says that its just best to get another engine and that it's not hard at all to remove the engine. Is it more difficult to do the seal/gasket job than to simply remove the engine and put another one in?

You do realize that a used engine will probably end up leaking oil as well.
Yank the engine and reseal then reinstall, not that bad of a job. I personally wouldn't pull it for that job.
"If" your friend has worked on alot of festivas and he helps you should be able to get it done in a day easy.
You shouldn't need any special tools.
Cam seal, crank seal, oil pan gasket, oil pump gasket, valve cover gasket, waterpump and timing belt.....I can do those easy in half a day by myself, with only hand tools and drinking beer.

[RhodeStiva]

i am about to do a swap a will sell my aspire engine only has 50k miles on it.

[RhodeStiva]

and i didn't have to yank the engine to reseal it depending on which side is leaking oil.

[ajbremer]

That's what I've heard. I've been told that when the engine gets a lot of miles on it (mine has 342,000) and it looses compression, there's major blowby and the oil tries to come out every where, it even can blow the dip stick out. I've heard stories where people even have c-clamped their dip stick in place. This is what I think is happening in my case.