Leakyls400

I'm changing the timing belt and figured I'd fix the oil leaks while it's all apart. I know from the pics it's difficult to tell where it comes from as it's all covered in oil but I'm hoping someone can say for sure it's the cam seals or valve covers just by looking. I did run the car for a few minutes with the whole intake disconnected and out of the way but couldn't tell where it was seeping. I did wipe the bottom of the drivers cam cover clean before I took the picture. Will take more if needed.

Thanks

Losiracer2

looks like a crankshaft seal leak, basically what I had. Make sure you replace it soon otherwise it'll completely coat your belt and possibly skip timing.

I unfortunately had to do a timing belt since mine was already soaked in oil due to the seal failing, so I did the water pump and cam seals in the process.

Leakyls400

Thanks, I'm going to tear the rest of it down and clean it up today. I do have a new crank seal that I'm going to install that will hopefully fix the issue. The car is a 98 and I really didn't want to tackle the cam seals so maybe I lucked out this time.

Leakyls400

Here's the crank seal. Seems to be in good condition and the timing belt also looked clean. Was hoping to see that it was transfering oil up to the top of the engine. I'll pull the cam covers next...

Leakyls400

Cam seals look good to me. Guessing it had to be valve covers at this point.

Losiracer2

hmm, so those cam and crank seals have never been done before? My crank seal failed at 255k, just 2k after I bought the car which was an unexpected expense of about $600.

I'm still on my original VC gaskets at my current 287k, which are pretty wet but aren't necessarily leaking or dripping onto the ground that badly, so im going to put them off until spring and hope they hold.

Leakyls400

I really don't know if they or the timing belt has ever been replaced. I bought the car in June, now has 162,000, and have been steadily going through fixing things here and there.
I did forget to put the crank at 50 degrees and my driver's side cam pulley moved around a bit when I was taking the cover off. We'll see today if I damaged anything

TakaM

I just finished fixing my 98 LS400 with 240K miles. My issue was valve cover gasket and also slight leak from crank seal. Hard to tell if the valve cover is your issue based on your picture but you can check the valve cover bolts to see if they are loose (usually the valve cover washer becomes hard/brittle and it no longer puts enough pressure on the valve cover). Plus all that spraying in the engine bay is typically sign of the valve cover gasket.

My crank seal wasn't leaking so I didn't touch it. Like you, I was hesitant to pull the cam shaft out.