Oil leak between upper and lower front cover/breast plates

[pmansson]

I have had oil on the floor for over a year now, and intend to do something about it. It emanates from the joint where engine block, cyl. head and their respective front (chain) cover plates meet.

If I´m lucky it´s just a question of replacing the cyl. head gasket, but it might be that a PO has had major engine work undertaken (highly likely as it´s a 3,2 block) and that the 4 parts have not been planed together.
Anybody got anything to share from experience on this issue???

 

[Honolulu]

Blue books...

The factory Blue Books pay particular attention to this joint, the corner where the upper and lower timing covers match the block/cylinder head joint. They say to ensure that upon reassembly, a gob (my word) of sealer is applied there.

I suggest you take off the upper timing cover, clean it and the cylinder head mating surface, and clean the exposed upper part of the cylinder head gasket. Then reassemble with liberal use of gasket maker, especially at the above noted problem area, which I would describe as the rear lower corners of the upper timing cover.

Also clean the area around it, so in a few days to a week, you can see where new oil may yet be leaking. If it still leaks, you'll have to go further, but for now don't assume the worst.

 

[x_atlas0]

The front timing covers are held in place by many relatively small bolts. I would suggest you see if any are loose first. Granted, they are torqued very low (I think 10 lb-ft) but they still need to be tight. Unless the car is smoking at startup (white smoke) and you find oil in your coolant, I'd hold off on the head gasket change.

 

[pmansson]

Thanks for 2 intelligent suggestions. The car is at the garage since this morning, for 5 speed conversion and other smaller issues.
I will talk to him about this 2 stage approach tomorrow.

I wish it´s just a question of loose bolts, 4 of them, but I doubt it.
The leak is quite noticeable, trickling down and the last body part before hitting the ground is the front stabilizer, under the A/C compressor.

(By the way, this is the Granatrot met. car that Art Wegweiser used to own. It has a 3,2 L engine. I don´t know who exchanged/restored the engine. Other than the oil leak issue, the engine is quite good. The cold start system is being replaced as well, as it always jumps to 2,000 RPM when started from cold, and remains there with 1st gear engaged: unintended cruise control).

 

[Bill Riblett]

I think it is pretty unlikely that you will find the bolts are loose.

But this is a pretty common place for leaks and as others have mentioned, the factory manual says to use a sealer at the joints. BMW used a product they called Atmosite, which I have never heard of. I think what you want here is a non-hardening gasket sealer. My guess is that the iron crankcase expands/contracts at different rates than the 3 aluminum parts that meet at the same joint: cylinder head and 2 timing covers.