oil leaking

[ptma767]

it has been confirmed. my pt is leaking oil between the block and head. keeping my car till monday they need to retorqe the head that is what there sevice bullitin calls for.i have a feeling this is not going to fix much. because the head gasket should have some sort of a sealent and now it contaminated with oil.now i wonder if the head and or block is warped.and if its leaking coolent.in to the moter. only time will tell. now im sorry i bought the car. but it is under warranty. thank god my little lemon is proably going to need it!! im sorry but my pt got me po"ed i wanted one for a long time and now this

[y2kcaveman]

i bet you feel just like i do

[soonercruiser]

Maybe you should trade up for a Cobalt!

[ptma767]

Originally Posted by soonercruiser

Maybe you should trade up for a Cobalt!

hell at this point ill trade up to a 1987 yugo
gv im just glad i kept my escort
wagon its pushing close to 200000 miles and still runs great! i dont need a car that gets me a free paper floormat each time i go to the dealershipand wast my paycheck.wait ill bet they charge me 4 the floor mat. i just hope they fix it right so i can start enjoying the car!and post some good things

[slartyblarfast]

Ok.... I'm gonna give you the inside 411. You are gonna need a new head gasket. Chrysler makes us follow this procedure. If we don't do the retorque and go straight to replacing the head gasket then they can charge the dealership back. So be prepared to bring it back for a head gasket. And don't get SHITTY with the dealership. That only gets you a dirty attitude. Remember you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. A box of doughnuts will get you a great return on a small investment!

[ptma767]

good advice .suppost to pick it up monday. hope its ok . but like you said it will more likely need a head gasket .they should put it in a bullitin to retorqe a head gasket at xxxxx miles before the leak happens. i know when i rebuilt a chevy 350 i checked the the head bolts at about 3000 miles after a rebuild just in case. but i suppose that would tie up dealers big time. now thati think about it im glad its just leaking oil and not sucking water so things arent so bad. i just cant wait to drive it again tommarow

[Cartman]

Slarty knows the key! mmmmm.....doughnuts, like crack to techs.

[ptma767]

got the car back all seems good .getting tranny flushed this weekend to prevent a problem. .and ill have them take a look at where the leak was again just to be safe.

[notnowles]

I have my O2 non turbo 2.4 Cruiser apart to do the timing belt and water pump, and new timing belt pulleys (tensioner and idler).

Incidentally, I am amazed at the price differential on these items. The dealer quoted something like $250 to sell me the tensioner and idler pulleys. Aftermarket Gates units (yet to be received) were just a hundred bucks for both. As for time, the dealer didn't have them in stock, either, so there was no time advantage to ordering the parts from them.

Discovered a little bit of engine oil sitting on the block ledge when I removed the rear timing cover. Car is at 107K miles.

I bought cam and crank seals for it, thinking that maybe I should change them when I did the belt, but now I am wondering if I should pull the head (unhappily, of course!) since it seems like the head gaskets are a problem.

And, if I do need to pull it apart, would I need other gaskets (besides the head gasket) and would I need a set of head bolts?

On the other hand, this car has not had noticeable drops in engine oil level between changes nor has it been leaving drips on the ground, so maybe it would go a long time before the leak would become a real problem.

That said, it's a long way back in to that timing belt area!

On an unrelated issue, I replaced the front control arm bushings with polyurethane units and I think they're gonna be cool. I like the way they're made and the way they installed. Then there is the issue of price. They were waaaaaaaay cheaper than new arms from the dealer. The arms on my car were fine (except for the bushings). I put grease fittings in and lubed the ball joints and they are nice and tight still.

One thing I have been doing is cleaning all bolt threads and coating with anti-seize. I was kinda surprised how much trouble I had getting some of the bolts out of the front suspension due to corrosion. Some of them took lots of back and forth with penetrating oil and lotsa patience. I live in the mid Atlantic so there is plenty of salt on the roads in the winter, but the car doesn't really show corrosion elsewhere.

Thanks to slarty for his helpful suggestions re taking the timing belt setup apart. Space is really tight in there!

[jd350b]

Notnowles - I just finished my water pump and timing belt.

I also had oil (more like grease) all behind the lower back cover. I had the same thought process you had. Should I change the main crank seal while I'm at it or let it go. I decided to let it go because I park it in the garage and have never seen a drop of oil on the floor. The car has 150K on it and at the mileage I couldn't get squat for it anyway on a trade. Even if I got a drop of oil every so often, I could live with it. Heck, the oil pan will leak again before the main seal (I already replaced the oilpan gasket twice).