camer0nn

I noticed a trail of oil following me home. Upon pulling into the driveway the spacing of the drips was about a body length apart.
I chucked my car on the ramps, degreased the underside of oil and it appears to be coming from the bottom of the crankshaft pulley. I have had a look on other posts but they seem to go nowhere. I'm not particularly happy about replacing the seal as it will mean doing the timing belt etc (well might as well if I have to take all that stuff off to get to it).
So I'm looking for confirmation that this is the crankshaft front seal that is leaking or if anyone has had a similar or identical leak to me to confirm this?

For some reason I'm unable to insert pictures so I've made an album in picasa. Copy and paste the link below and have a look at the leak
https://picasaweb.google.com/106496743004702493602/LS400CrankshaftSealLeak

Thanks in advance

deanshark

I would say that's your crank seal leaking. Also gotta say that is some of the blackest, dirty oil I've seen in a while. How long between the 2 pics? That's alot of oil dripping down. I'd fix that ASAP.

LScowboyLS

yes, looks to be the front crank (main) seal, but could be cam seals, or any part higher up on engine, and I would definitely do the timing belt at the same time, since you are already doing the work - if you haven't replaced your water pump, timing belt tensioner, idler bearing, tensioner bearing in the last 100K miles, I would do those as well.

camer0nn

Damn not what I wanted to hear but thanks for confirming guys. I really didn't want to replace the seal and find it wasnt that -_-
The time between the 2 pics is about 5mins at idle.
I've been looking at timing belt kits (with water pump) on Ebay, do the non OEM parts have any issues? The price seems to good to go past when OEM is close to double the price

LScowboyLS

why would you get non-Toyota parts when the price is so ridiculously cheap on ebay to get the genuine parts?

I mean $190 for AISIN Water Pump, KOYO Idler Bearing, NSK Tensioner Bearing, NTN Hydraulic Tensioner, and Mitsuboshi Timing Belt??

that is the steal of the century, those are all of the original brands that came on your car from the factory!!

simrx3

mine had a leak from the same area..

at the mechanics they found yes the main crank seal was gone..

but also the cam seals as well.. one was like hard plastic..

so id investigate as much as you can...

and yes timing belt has to come off to do crank seal

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

just to point out, it could be that the cam seals are what's leaking but the oil is (obviously) going to drain out the bottom. either way if you're pulling the belt and everything out I would replace the lot of them.

deanshark

Yea, it could be coming from anywhere up top, including the valve covers, and draining down the front of the motor. (that's the lowest spot it can come out) I once had oil spraying out of the dipstick where it goes into the oil pan. I coudn't find that leak until I got in there and started taking parts off. No matter where it's coming from you need to fix it fast. I would do the T-belt/WP job with the parts link from LScowboyLS and also the cam seals and crank seal. While everything is off you can check your valve cover gaskets.

aomdedude1

Yes, that is most likely your crank seal. I replaced mine on my recent timing belt job.

I purchased my part from Sewell with the CL discount.

The part number is: 90311A0001 and is somewhat misleadingly called "SEAL (FOR OIL PUMP) "

I would be VERY careful installing this and your cam seals.. as I have a tenancy of screwing up seals on installation. Be sure to wet the outside of the seal with multipurpose grease or engine oil so that it slides into the housing without ripping the rubber on the seal. If you skip this step you'll teat the rubber on the seal and run the risk of it not sealing properly.

Also be sure the the seal does not go in crooked. That will mess things up.


I would ABSOLUTELY buy an OEM Toyota part. It looks like they upgraded the rubber that was used in the seal from a black, NR, NBR, or, HSNR rubber to a FKM/Viton Rubber. The new rubber is more chemical resistant and is resistant to higher temperatures. My original was the old black color rubber.

I have always opted for these brown high temp NOK seals when replacing any motor oil seal in cars, notably my old V6 95 accord, with great results. It looks like Toyota took it upon themselves to offer the high temp chemical resistant rubber in the new seal I bought.

Photos:



I would also take into consideration, that you MAY possibly have a leak from the oil pump housing itself (red arrow)....



So while you are down there, just go ahead and torque those bolts down to spec just in case any worked themselves loose (don't loosen them first! Just tighten them down)

I would check out your valve cover seals too while you are doing the work, because they have a tenancy to leak. I know the torque spec for those valve cover bolts is low, and mine were loose to begin with. So snug them down too.

camer0nn

Wow cheers Aom and pure for your other possible leak locations. I suspect when I take it off I'll be able to see oil dregs coming from the cam seals or pump housing?
The only reason I was looking at non OEM parts is that I'm in NZ not LA (had to do this so I could sign up) so to get them here I'm looking at about $300
I did however stumble upon a bit of luck in the weekend and found out one of my old friends is working at a 1UZ specialist mechanic. He can get me all the parts OEM for $190NZD and will do all the work for a box of beers. He doesn't even want me to take all the parts off so all he has to do is the timing

LScowboyLS

this is the size of the "box of beers" you will have to deliver to me if you want me to do your timing belt

dashan

You will be drunk after drinking that box of beers and replace the serpentine belt thinking that you are replacing the timing belt, and wondering why it is so easy to replace a timing belt.

camer0nn

haha liquid labour is the way to go

camer0nn

So I have since replaced the front crank and 2 front cam seals. I was about to take it for a drive and noticed fresh oil leaked on the ground below.
I chucked a bottled of fluorescent dye in the oil but it didn't work that well. As far as I can tell it looks to be the RH cam seal leaking. I'm hoping I haven't pinched it putting it in or not seated it correctly . Take a look at the attached pics of it running and not running. (the pics are looking down behind the cam pulley)
Pretty sure there shouldn't be a bead of oil visible outside the seal

LScowboyLS

there should be no visible oil anywhere in the entire area where the timing belt travels/lives, as oil plays havoc on a timing belt's grip and life!

just be sure to clean everything with a solvent such as brake cleaner when doing a timing belt, so that residual oil doesn't fool you later - and don't spray the solvent, as you don't want it leaching down into bearing races inside pulleys, tensioners, idlers, etc. - use a rag

did you use genuine Toyota cam seals when doing this job?

did you reassemble everything using a torque wrench?