Severe oil leak from crank seal

[MetroManiac]

Hello Everybody,

I just bought a 1994 Geo Metro with only 67k miles on it, but it has a severe oil leak that I'm sure is from the front crank seal. I was wondering if anybody has ever had a leak that took 8 quarts to drive about 80 miles. Can a bad seal cause that severe of a leak? I'd fill up the oil til full on the dip stick and stop every 15 miles and the level would be about 1/8" on the dip stick. So I had to stop about 5 times I think but its home now. Can't wait to get it fixed and drive it everywhere. This is a great forum btw!!

[geozukigti]

Holy sh@#! Sounds like your seal is made of fishnetting . Yea, a bad crank seal can leak that much oil. If it's that bad, you might have a groove worn into the crank too. There are sleeves available that go on the end of the crank to make a nice new seal surface. It's a pretty annoying job to change the seal, but not really too hard. Inspect your water pump(or replace it, they're only about $20-$25), and change the timing belt while you have it all apart. If it's leaking that bad, I'd replace the oil pan gasket just for re-assurance too. Good find on the low mileage 94' also! How much did ya get it for?

[MetroManiac]

Thanks for the quick response! I was afraid of the groove in the crank thing, hopefully its ok. Do you know what I need to ask for if it is bad? I read somewhere on here a guy bought it at Autozone. I'm about to do the seal and timing belt as we speak, just bought a 24" breaker bar. I had to order the tensioner but it'll be here Wednesday. Oh, the guy wanted $900 for it, and a/c works great too. I told him, dude, I gotta replace a bunch of things, how bout $700, and he let it go. He seemed desperate for money so that was good for me.

[geozukigti]

Excellent deal on it! You could turn around and sell that car today for about $1800. And yea, I think those sleeves are readily available at autozone. I've never personally had to use one, but it's just what i've read too.

[Crvett69]

had one that leaked that bad and what had happened was that the crank seal had popped out of the oil pump in front and was just spinning around with the crank gear. popped a new one in and it seems to work just fine. if yours popped out check the pcv system and hoses, make sure engine is not building up pressure and forcing seal out

[MetroManiac]

Thanks guys for your responses! I just finished doing the timing belt and front seal. The old seal just pulled right out with my fingers!! I had to drive in the new one so thats a good thing. Also noticed the cam seal was not fully seated, sort of cocked in, so I drove that in all the way since it seemed totally dry up top. I gotta admit, it took me an hour to figure out how to slide the belt on, it was such a tight fit. I finally loosened the tensioner til where the bolt holding it in was just barely holding it on, put belt on both pulleys and slipped the tensioner onto the belt and finally tightened down the tensioner. I think next time it'll only take about ten or fifteen minutes. But, she started right up and no sign of oil leaking anywhere. In addition, the crankshaft area where the pulley rides looked good, no grooves or any scratches.

Oh yeah, one more thing, the breaker bar and starter trick worked flawlessly, that was the part that scared me the most. What about tightening the 17mm center bolt, will the constant clockwise spinning of the engine just keep on tightening it or should I try and secure the pulley and tighten it down to 81 ft lbs?

[geozukigti]

ALWAYS torque it down. If you don't, the vibration will wear the keyway out on the crank, and the crank gear will start to wobble. I always stick a screwdriver in the teeth on the flywheel to lock the motor.

[carpenter_jai]

if yours popped out check the pcv system and hoses, make sure engine is not building up pressure and forcing seal out

One other area to look for engine pressure build up, although unlikely a problem in summer, is the valve cover blow off tube. It comes out of the cover and into the air cleaner shroud. This same tube connects to your PCV valve. If it has an obstruction, such as ice during winter, it will cause seals to blow. I blew both the cam and crank seal cause of this. This has made me a believer in gas line antifreeze in the winter.

Jai