Ok, I really need some help. I thought I needed to change my valve cover gasket to stop an oil leak I was experiencing. Did that repair and the gasket definitely needed changing. It cured for over 24 hours, drove it today, gasket looks fine, but the place I am noticing the leak is still there. It seems to be on top of the engine and only when the engine is run, so only leaking down after it gets blown over the engine. I have included a pic of the suspected area with one possible spot in green and the red circle is where the oil is accumulating next to the A/C compressor. Does anyone have any suggestion as to what in this area could possibly be leaking? The distributor maybe, or the temp sending unit?

 

Hard to tell. An easier way to track down your oil leak is to clean area really well, spray some Soft n' Dry or similar powdered aerosol at leak area, and the leak should be much easier to diagnose where it is coming from.

 

I'd say probably the distributor o-ring seal...

Scott

 

I had the same oil leak. I changed the O-ring on the dist. but still had the leak. I then changed the timing cover gasket and no more leak. Look for a clean area on the top of the timing cover. Where my leak was about a inch long area was clean from the oil leaking.

 

I agree with the timing cover being suspect. looks like bigot a new pump on there. might have disturbed the seal when bolts were removed

 

Timing cover, distributor o ring, intake, or head gasket.

Degrease the area and confirm its origin that way.

 

Thanks everyone. I did change the ECM not too long ago and needed to pull up the distributor to get to the back screw so could have possibly nicked the o-ring. The pic above is not of my engine, just one I found with the area already exposed, but the timing cover gasket may be it also. I will clean it up this weekend and see what I can see. The powder trick is new and may have to try that. I have wiped it down before and tried to see what I can see, but it doesn't leak when sitting still and by the time I run it and check again, its already in the same places. Thats what has made this so frustrating to track down and I didn't want to just start replacing stuff arbitrarily.

 

You mean ICM? The ECM is mounted in a bracket thru the firewall. The ICM might be on the distributor on your truck (later trucks had it on the fender).

What I do is go to a DIY carwash, throw a few quarters in the machine and set it for high pressure wash w/soap. Power wash everything til it's clean. Then rinse with water and watch for the leak to show itself over the next few hours/days that you drive it.

If you do this... beware if you get the ignition wet it will be hard to start and run like crap til it dries out. I just deal with it... she's fine in a few hours.

 

Yep, sorry, typo. ICM was what I meant. I am still going to clean it up this weekend, but tried a little experiment this morning on the way to work. Took a disposable shop towel and stuffed it into the crevice and left a corner sticking up to try and see where it may be coming from. Popped the hood when I got to work and there was oil only on the distributor side of the towel. Not fool proof, but a good indicator that its at least coming from that direction and not the head gasket. Will verify after the clean up, but a new o-ring isn't exactly a bad or expensive thing to replace anyway.

 

So was looking at the AC unit for leaks and had the truck running and noticed some vapor from around the distributor. So I think this is where my small leak is coming from. Took everything apart this weekend. Put in a new o-ring and filled in some silicone that was missing from around the various areas. Truck was a quart low, so threw in a bottle of the Lucas oil additive and stop leak as well just for good measure. Once everything has cured, I'll fire it up and see what I have.