Hi, I have owned my FD for about 6 months. Everything has been running great. 30k Miles reman in the car w/ two oil coolers. I recentently began noticing oil dripping onto the driveway. A few weeks later the car began smoking under boost and constant running. I took the car in to a rotary shop recentely and they diagnosed it as FRONT COVER GASKET LEAK. They explained the smoke as the oil dripping onto the manifold from a small trail.



$1,200 labor charge to fix it.



I really would like to keep that money towards a new engine, for all i know is i drop the 1.2k and fix the leak and then blow a seal so it all has to be replaced anyways!



- I am definately new to actually working on the car ( i know tons about the car and how it works but i havent done much more than radiator install, coolant hoses, and gauges)



- I have read the 94fsm inside out..theres really no direct way of performing this repair.



Can you guys tell me im getting into more than I can handle if I''m a new rotary owner (this is my DD)



Basically i know that all the pumps must come out and pulleys...but how hard is this really..i thought the only hard part was removing e-shaft pulley bolt? How the hell is this is a 16 hr job what does it consist of? I will be performing this with a friend who has pulled a 3sgte before that about all the backup i have on this!



Thanks!!!!!!! https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...1047683894.gif

I think that quote could be about right, steep but probably close based on what is involved and how they choose to do it. I did not have an FD mind you but I was able to replace my front cover gasker easily on my FB. Took a little time but wasn't too bad. To do it right you do have to remove the oil pan or at least the bolts from the front cover that go into it. I removed my pan and resealed it to make sure I had no leaks from the pan after fixing the leak from the front cover.

rminggin is right.. if you want to do it right, you would have to remove the oil pan and all the pullies. Which means, you would need to pull the engine... or close to it.



I think you could do it yourself as pulling an engine should only take 2-3 hours... Otherwise, you could try to patch it from outside and see if it will hold until you need a new engine. But that would be temporary fix and might not even work. I've bought an engine that had layers and layers of silicone to stop the front cover leak. Not sure if it worked as I bought it as a blown engine.



Good luck!



PHIL

https://www.nopistons.com/forums/index.php?...c=16199&hl=



I got your PM from the other forum. just read through this thread and again take your time.

dude for the same price I will send you a rebuild cryofroze 13b motor for your FD, low mileage too..

Cryofroze?? whats the purpose?

you can do the front cover yourself in about 4 hrs. It is a PITA, but not $1200 worth of pain.



1. remove 2 nuts on the engine mounts that hold it to the subframe.

2. lift up engine until it contacts the tranny tunnel

3.remove oil pan bolts and drop oil pan about an inch.

4. remove big bolt from pulley assembly and remove bolt.

5. remove front cover.

6. replace gasket and o-ring

7. use an assload of vasoline (no offense Steve) to hold the thrust washer and bearing in place.

8. reassemble in reverse order.

9 drink beer and be glad you didn't pay someone to do it for you.







mind you, there are a few things that might have to be removed before this point depending on what setup you have, intake box, I/c, etc.

That would work also...

well, i'm going to at least attempt this myself with a friend, worse case i could just have it towed 12 miles to the shop...it would already be mostly apart so it can't cost any more money as some of the disassembly would be done...thanks for the info so far but i have a few more q's



- how should i start? will i need to remove airpump, waterpump assembly and thermostat all that stuff, ac compressor etc...none of that was mentioned in Grey's post.



- as far as raising the engine, it there anything that could possibly go wrong in the alignment of the mounts to the engine & subframe if it gets shifted forward left or right? I dont wanna be stuck w/ the engine hovering or resting on the subframe?



- use a jack to raise the tranny after unbolting the nuts or raise the engine to the top of the tunnel w/ a craine from the top?



- drop the subframe or twist and pull the oil pan through (is this possible)?



- to remove the main pulley on the front cover does it require heating w/ a tourch i read that somewhere?



Doesnt sound like a 4 hr job to me grey?



Much appreciation guys!

Ok, I have been doubting for some reason that it is the front cover gasket that has been leaking



- i bought some UV DYE and ran it through the oil...got under the car with a uv light after cleaning off eveything for about an hour



I couldnt get a picture becuz its too dark and a flash would block the uv emitting dye so here is a Photoshoped picture...



-the oil is leaking exactly where the yellow is shown...when i get under the car a yellow trails is visible from as high as u can possibly see on the metal next to the pulley down to the pan



-from above the car there is not noticable oil around the pulley or front cover





If it was the front cover gasket wouldnt it be leaking around the entire front of the engine on the outer edges?



Could it possibly be the oil o ring seal right behind the pulley?



[b]What are all the possible things that could cause this trail of oil in this general area?



http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/4861/untitledab6.jpg

I've seen a front cover gasket leak in the same manner as you show in the pic. It was leaking at teh very top, then running down the front cover, behind the timing thingies (forget what they're called at the moment). But, before you start ripping things apart, check the oil feed banjo bolt, on top of the driver's side of the front iron.



If you get a 1/4in drive swivel 10mm socket, you do not have to drop the subframe/raise the engine etc at all. Just take out the bolts on the oil pan that are screwing into the front cover and leave the oil pan on the motor.



Also, you will need a 23mm wrench, (or a crecent wrench), to take off the banjo bolt that holds the oil cooler line to the front cover. Also take off the oil metering lines at the pump, (don't lose the crush washers), unplug the oil metering pump, and take it off with the front cover. You'll also have to take off the oil return line from the turbos that drains into the front cover.



All in all, it's not that hard. But, I think 8hrs is a more accurate guess than 4 for the average guy.



Edit: I would seriously look into buying/renting an electric impact gun with the highest torque rating you can find. The front bolt is always a pain to get off manually. I've broken a breaker bar. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.png

You need to remove more stuff and make sure its not running down from some other place...

OMP or one of the lines? I don't think they typically change those out on remans, do they?

if it is leaking EXACTLY where you marked in yellow and nowhere else, then it is the front main seal. It can be replaced without taking *very* much apart. Get your hands on a FSM and it will tell you how to do it.

Actually, I don't see how a bad front main seal could cause a leak in that manner.

For the record, I wrote that reply from work and the picture was blocked. I thought we were talking about the other side

because that is the only thing in THAT area that can leak EXCEPT the o-ring. If the o-ring was bad... you'd have low oil pressure also. If the front cover gasket was leaking in THAT area, it would leak behind the flange that the AC and PS mount to... that same flange that the CAS is on. Unless the oil is running down from the top of the cover (which he didn't mark in his pic) that leaves the front main seal.

After further review, I still don't see how a bad front main seal could leak in that manner.



https://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k...ello/cover.jpg



But anyway, lets's just wait and see what the leak turns out to be. I've been wrong numerous times before. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.gif

turns out it is the front cover gasket that is leaking oil from the top...the seal is seperated at the top for some reason...its a 30k miles reman so i don't get it but its in the shop for 1k getting fixed up, i tried to do it myself but i was afraid to go anyfurther than removing p/s and a/c pulleys as i didnt think the leak was actually from the front cover

Good to hear that you found the source. 1k for that kind of work is reasonable.. I guess?