Hello, first post here -
I am helping a friend with '95 Z28 Camaro.

I'm trying to find the source of an oil leak that he says seems to have started shortly after having the water pump replaced.
Oil is dripping on to the crank nose from above. It looks like it is coming from behind a white plastic part behind the optispark.



This pic is taken looking up at the front of the crankshaft at where the oil is coming from.

Is this a common/known problem? Any ideas what needs to be replaced?

I've searched the forums and I've seen a lot about the intake manifold leak in the rear, but I didn't find anything about this.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

Could be a seal on the front cover, either around the shaft driving the opti or the shaft driving the water pump.

 

^^ agreed I'd pull the opti waterpump and crank pully and replace the seals and timing cover gasket (if you get the timing cover gasket set it comes with all 3 seals)

 

Thanks guys,
Does this have all the gaskets I'll need? It looks like I'll need a puller. Will I need something else? Is there anything else I should do while I've got it torn down this far? (1995, 100,000mi, new water pump already)

 

Yes it does. One thought I had though, since your oil leak started shortly after the water pump was replaced. If the job was a thorough one, the timing cover seal for the water pump shaft would have been changed at the same time. There is a right way and a wrong way to install the seal. If it was put on without using an "installation tool" (wrong way) it will leak. I'd check that first, before opening a can of worms you may not need to.
Check this thread out and see if it makes more sense to you: https://camaroforums.com/forum/lt1-l...ve-seal-43601/

 

if the water pump prior to failure was doing a little LMFAO ( wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle)

then the oil seal is definitely gone and should have been replaced

 

^^^ agree if water pump was installed without new seal or seal was installed wrong then i would suspect that seal. to change the front cover gasket you will need to drop the front of the oil pan,,, another can of worms if old pan gasket does not re seal.

 

Thanks for the insights -

I'm tempted to just do the water pump drive seal using the magic marker method, but I'm pretty sure I'm also seeing some oil bubbling out around one of the timing chain cover bolt heads, which would indicate timing chain cover gasket failure a guess.

Arg. So you're saying to replace the timing chain cover gasket I could just loosen all the bolts on the oil pan and drop it enough to slide the timing chain gasket in without replacing the oil pan gasket? That does sound a bit risky.

How hard is it to replace the oil pan gasket? Does that require dropping the front suspension?

Thanks again,
Jeff

 

do you have an engine hoist? I lifted the engine a wee bit, lowered the oil pan, took off the old gasket, CUT the new gasket, put it on with a bunch of rtv where the incision was made (hey, it was surgeon like precision) and no leaks and that was more than 18 months ago

 

"RTV"..."surgeon like precision"....man, what kind of a doctor are you used to seeing? lmao