Our 97 tracer has a severe oil leak, the leak seems to be coming from the passenger side just behind the timing belt cover towards the bottom, it is a substantial drip at idle, and it blows out about 3 quarts of oil in less then 45 miles.
I have searched and searched online for any kind of help that might be common to this 2.0L engine, but I have not found anything with this type of problem.
The oil filter, pressure switch, valve cover gasket areas are dry, no leaks, the oil pan gasket is dry, no leaks, it is a pressure leak only, it don't drip unless it is running, it is very hard to see exactly where it is coming from, except for down where I mentioned above.
I'm assuming it's coming from the oil pump gasket area only because with that kind of oil loss it has to be in that area, but unless I remove the timing belt covers I will never find out, and once I do I can't run the engine to verify the leaky area.
The oil leak area is to the right of the timing cover as you are facing it, by the lower boss area.
So what I am asking is would any of you know if this is common or have any ideas where it is coming from or?
It is a reliable car, or it was until this happened, it started when my wife added too much oil, like about 3 quarts too much then drove it to work and the next day she complained of oil burning smell and the oil light blinking once in awhile, that is when I found out about all of this.
There are no other oil leak areas except where I mentioned, we cleaned the engine off to be sure it was only leaking there and it was.
Thanks ahead of time for your help.