I crawled under the beast today with a flash light. I am thinking that the passenger front cam seal is leaking. There is oil on the top of the alternator, its sides, and bottom. From what I gather this is common failure mode of the alternator from oil leakage from the front passenger oil seal. Apparently oil leaks from valve cover or head gasket do not drip on the alternator.

Looking back at Posts 70 and 75 in this thread, I installed the front cam seals first and later inserted the cams. The manual shows the seals going in with the cams already in place. Also, the insertion depth of the front cam seal is still an open question as you don't drive it hard against a stop. Anyone have the special tool and care to measure the length of the step?

Maybe this coming weekend will start tearing into it...

Studebaker - yes I would rather be working on my 71 vert barracuda (cuda clone - hence the "440-6" to my name). Sorry to hear you sold your Charger.

-larry

 

Yep, oil leaking from that cam seal will obliterate the alternator.......a friend bought a Monty that was leaking so bad from the cam seal that the prior owner just rigged up a metal shield over the alternator so the oil would drip off of it. Engine was drenched in oil, but alternator was still working.

Good question about the insertion depth of the front cam seal.....I guess when in doubt, just tap it flush to the outer edge.

Funny......I did not even catch on to the 4406 after your name....DOH! Yep, my ole 68 Charger 440 would have been a fun one to take on your 71 Cuda. Those were the days........

 

Larry, if oil only leaking from the cam seal, that is actually a good news. This is much easier repair than the crankshaft seal. Installing the cam the way you described could deform/damage the seal.

 

Well lets hope. Will see if chores and weather cooperate to let me investigate this weekend.

 

Well today I tore into the beast. Blood and foul language were involved as was beer. Several oil drops on the plywood from the prior 10 min run last week.

The damn 10mm shoulder nuts on the fan fought me to no end. Three of 4 wrung off via a 10 mm wrench, had to resort to a long cold chisel to nick the nut flanges and start to turn them. Bumped the starter to get them into favorable position. Then was able to get them off via now bloody fingers from the sharp edges and vice grips. Will buy new ones going back. UFB.

The oil filter extension clearly showing signs of oil leaking on the exterior. Bottom of drivers timing cover showing oil seepage. Passenger timing inspection port showing some oil seepage. Lots of oil on the passenger side engine block behind the alternator but oddly the top of the alternator was quite clean. The cam seals on both banks look good. The timing belt is covered in oil. Drivers side interior of accessory bracket had quite a bit of pooling oil at the bottom. Passengers interior side of accessory bracket shows oil draining down AC tensioner bolt hole.

Oddly the hydraulic tensioner was found fully retracted with the lever against its casing. Is this normal? The timing belt had quite a bit of slack - I could move the belt portion between the passenger cam sprocket and the water pump pulley at least 1/2-3/4 of an inch!

Rotated the engine clockwise to check timing marks. Hard to see crank mark with lower cover and pulley still on. Engine still appears to be in proper time however.

Oddly, after rotating the engine several revolutions, the hydraulic tensioner was now extended and there was no longer any slack in the belt. I did not notice its change of state, only before and after.

Peering in above the lower timing cover, there is quite a bit of oil at the top flange of the oil pump. Not sure it that is the source or simply windage placement from leakage elsewhere. Inside of timing covers have oil everywhere as does the outer surface of the timing belt.

Could not remove the crank bolt as I need a smaller 22mm impact socket and/or smaller impact gun. Interference with the AC condenser.

Any thoughts from anyone?

I'm thinking of giving it an ENIMA after I get the crank bolt, crank pulley, and lower timing cover removed to try to observe where the oil is coming from.

Oil on ground after about 10 minutes run time

Oil leakage on exterior of oil filter extension

Oil leakage at base of drivers timing cover

Minor oil seepage at passengers timing inspection cover.=

Oil pooling on drivers side interior of accessory cover

Oil on interior side of accessory cover leaking down AC belt tensioner

Oddly hydraulic tensioner found fully retracted with slack belt

Oddly after several manual CW revolutions of engine the hydraulic tensioner was found properly extended and belt taught


Maybe oil pump leak? Note oil at top of pump flange

 

I think your best bet might be to spay everything with brake cleaner to wash down the oil and to dry out all surfaces. Leave timing belt installed. Don't worry about accessories for now. Run the engine and see if you can spot new oil leak coming from somewhere.

 

Run engine with no coolant? How long 1-3 min?

Trans cooler lines are disconnected from now removed radiator. Jump them together? Put radiator back in and fill for test run?

What’s your thoughts regarding finding the hydraulic adjuster fully retracted?

Edit 10/27/19 - raining today so not sure if I will be able to fool with it today.

Hunter - I think I will put the radiator back in, connect hoses and add coolant, connect the trans cooler lines, and run it as you suggest while looking for leaks after cleaning. Also added some pictures of the passenger cam seal area.

Passenger cam seal area

Oil pooling in core plug under passenger cam seal

Close up of pooling oil in core plug below passenger cam seal

 

This post documents the same retracted position I encountered of the hydraulic tensioner and slack belt which went away with manual engine rotation in proper direction. So I am thinking this is normal.
https://mitsubishiforum.com/forum/mi...oncerns-29645/

Also the as-found retracted position and slack belt can be seen in the Timing Belt Sticky with it later extended after engine rotation.
https://mitsubishiforum.com/forum/mi...e7/#post294638

Is the hydraulic tensioner provided with active oil pressure from the engine or is it a sealed unit? My tensioner had two different bolts, one a fitted bolt and the other with constant diameter shank. Is oil supplied to the tensioner thru the bolt shank clearance? There are several posts on the internet of oil leaks from these tensioner bolts and the need to seal them; I did not do that during my rebuild.

 

Larry, my bad - didn't realize or misunderstood that you had to take radiator off in order to get to the front of your engine. On mine, I did all timing work with radiator in place, so it didn't even occur to me that you'd have to take yours out. Looking at the photo of your cam seal, I think that it is definitely leaking. The only two placed oil can get there is from above (bad valve cover seal) or through the seal itself. Were you able to to see if the cranshaft seal is holding?

Interesting post on the tensioner.

 

Hunter thanks for checking in - yesterday was a bust due weather. I did spray everything down with brake cleaner (2 cans) as you suggested. Work is somewhat slow for me now, so hopefully I can get off early and put radiator back in, connect transmission lines, add coolant, and start it up this week. The alternator is still wired just will not spin as there is no belt so the engine will be running off the battery for bit. Previously it took 5-10 minutes for oil to seep out from the bottom crank/timing cover crevice so I am hopeful that I can see it much quicker with the covers removed.

Connect and run battery charger while engine is running off the battery?