Front Oil Leak

[wparrish]

Yesterday I noticed a nice little 8 inch puddle right underneath my skid plate. I took the plate off and it had about 2 tablespoons of oil in it. I recently had the oil changed so I thought it may be a crossed threaded drain plug, or a bad oil filter. The plug and filter were both clean. The only thing with any oil on was the point just below the pulley on the crankshaft near the front of the oil pain. I have not noticed any oil at all until about 24 hours ago. The level does not appear to be changing drastically. Does anyone have any ideas??

[silverxglider]

I have two thoughts. If the skidplate was not removed when the oil was changed, a fair amount of oil may have spilled from the filter onto the skid and that may be what finally drooled onto the ground. The other thing that comes to mind is a leaking front engine seal, which would be bad news indeed. When I had this problem on my Trooper, the leak saturated and broke the timing belt requiring a very expensive repair. If it were mine, I wouldn't drive it much until I had a definitive explanation for the leak.

[Schludwiller]

You could check the centerlink for oil on top of it as well. The filter when removed tends to leak over it pretty well.

[wparrish]

I finally got it checked out. I don't know whether to be relieved or mad to tell you the truth. Turns out what I thought was oil was actually coolant mixing with oil and grease as it ran down. (I thought it felt a little thin on the ground) Well doesn't sound to bad except, the leak is from my water pump, and the fluid has saturated my timing belt. So I need a new water pump and timing belt. The nissan dealer quoted me $650, but my mechanic I'm used in the past for my old jeeps can do it for $400. Sucks!!!

[silverxglider]

Yeah, but it's still a LOT cheaper than a broken timing belt in an interference engine like ours.

[markplace]

Interestingly enough, I just got rear ended by a drunk driver. While sitting with the engine at idle I noticed a puddle similar in size to yours coming from the same area. I was moving forward at the moment of impact, and the oil was fairly clean, so I speculated it might have been the transfer case. The results of what it was will come back from the shop tommorrow. I feel like I'm screwed no matter what it is though. It will never be the same.

[OffroadX]

Transfer case has ATF in it. If the fluid you saw wasn't red, it wasn't from the t-case.

[markplace]

Thanks ORX, I guess I'll find out today what it is. You think it's most likely engine oil?

[OffroadX]

When you say "the same area" where are you referring to? Nothing described by the others above is anywhere near the transfer case...

[markplace]

Well "area" is a pretty generic word. Roughly more towards the front than the back. I got my bell rung too so it could have been a halucination, because so far the shop is having no luck finding it.