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Massive oil leak at front main seal (long) Posted by Arabiflora [Email]  (#1129) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Arabiflora) on Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:29:51
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1988 900S 16v NA 5 spd, 382k miles
Had recently experienced what I thought was belt squeal. Alternator belts looked a little ragged and so I bought a set (plus PS belt; AC is long gone). Took the opportunity to replace alternator bushings before installing belts. Put it all back together and did an oil change for good measure. Still had a mild belt squeal on startup but tightening alternator belts another few turns (belts have 3/8-1/2 inch deflection) solved that.
Three days later I notice the oil pressure lamp stayed on just a bit longer than normal on startup. No lifter noise, runs great. 30 miles to work and back; check oil, down 1.5 qts. Had not noticed an oil puddle, but with the dirty snowy side streets here in Madison (and a garage floor constantly covered with road ice and melted snow) I think I can be forgiven. Topped off with oil, same result but this time I'm looking.
I have a gushing oil leak at the front (rear; firewall side) crank main seal/oil pump housing. I suspect that the squeal I was hearing was, in fact, a failing crank pully/harmonic balancer. Given the miles on the car, that's not too surprising. I've ordered a replacement from site sponsor, along with replacement front main seal and oil pump o-ring.
Now, I certainly didn't have the catastrophic oil leak before I replaced belts and alternator bushings, although it did leak in the chronic but minor way that one might expect of a 20 year old car with this many miles. So, what changed? I'm asking so that I can be on the lookout for collateral damage when I do the HB/main seal R&R.
Not to poison the well of ideas that I hope will come from you, but my (best case scenario) guess/hope is that firming-up the alternator mount, combined with possibly overtightened alternator belts made a minor problem (the weeping main seal) into a major one.
The worse case scenario is that I created a new problem. Is it possible that too much tension on the alternator belts could have damaged the oil pump housing? If so, how would I recognize that?
If you've read through this so far, thanks for your patience and thanks in advance for any advice and guidance you might be able to provide.
Scott
, Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:29:51 <-- Viewing This Message, Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:36:03
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