I recently did the timing belt on my 2002 Mitsubishi montero limited 3.5 with the 5 speed auto transmission, and now i have a bad oil leak. Like really bad.

I took it to Valvoline since i do not have a lift anymore to have the oil changed and so i could have a look under it. It was so hard to tell where its coming from but it looks like from the timing area.
It was litterly leaking while they were changing it.

It did not have this issue before i did the timing so i am wondering what i could've screwed up now. I have such a love hate relationship with this car.

I got the whole kit and replaced everything with he timing while i was doing it.
I changed the timing belt tensioner since it was making the lifter taping noise and someone told me it was the tensioner causing it but its still making the lifter tapping noise and now i have a horrid oil leak.

Is there something in the timing area that could cause this?
Anyone heard of this before?

Thanks guys.

JP

 

If this engine is identical to the 3.0 6g72, you have some classic places.
First is the bolts that hold the tensioner. Treadseal on these two bolts should stop the leak there.
Camseals is also prone to leak.
Thats about it, AFAIK.

 

If it is coming form the timing belt area, there are three possibilities:
1. camshaft seals
2. crank shaft seal
3. oil pump

You will have to open up the timing belt covers to see what is going on. The oil pump is the one I'm least certain about. I believe it is bolted to the front of the engine where the crankshaft is. The crankshaft seal is actually mounted on the front plate of the oil pump. It is possible that one of the bolts that hold the oil pump were removed by mistake (not necessary for timing belt job) and not installed back correctly, or not torqued and that is what's causing the leak. I've seen a similar issue on the forum. Try searching for massive oil leak threads.

 

I tore it down today. The front cam seal looks ok but i am going to replace it anyhow since its torn apart and i ordered the part.

there was some residual oil sitting on it but i cleaned it off and it doesn't look like anymore is coming out. Or does it come out when engine is running?

I am Going to do the top two cam seals as well.
They look ok but the oil spill seems to be coming from the right somewhere so it doesn't hurt to replace them as well since i have it torn down and the part on order.

I really hope this fixes it. I want to drive again lol.

thank you for your help so far.

JP

 

Crank Seal Before Replacement.



Crank Seal Before Replacement.

It did also seem to come from the bolt that held the tensioner on when i was replacing the timing belt I remember thinking that seems like an odd amount of oil to be coming from there but did not do anything about it.
Could that cause a lot of oil to be flung out and leak badly?
So put some thread tape on the end of it when i put it back in and that will seal the oil leak if it is from the bolt?

As for it being the pump that could be a possibility but the oil seems to be coming from the top right cam shaft area. I dont think leaky valve gaskets could cause this big of a leak would it?

IDK still have some work to do i guess.
Seems its always something on this car.... I have a love hate relationship with it LOL.

 

 

Noisy lifters can be caused by being low on oil at any point and sucking some air into the system. You have to run a lifter bleed procedure to see if it fixes it. Rough idle is not likely related to oil. It is hard to diagnose that remotely. Its best if you can hook up a scanner to the system and see what the fuel trim levels are and how they change with opening throttle. It seems like that is the whole another issue you need to deal with after you get the oil leak fixed.

 

Yes I will have to do that after i fix these seals.

The bottom and top left look ok, but like i said im replacing them all anyhow.
The top right looks like its a little soaked, and oil residual is back on the pulleys below them. I cleaned everything off so i could see and now its oily again so that leads me to believe its the top right seal.

I really hope it is.

Im tired of working on this thing. I need to be able to drive it LOL. Not being able to drive sucks.

 

Sorry i haven't gotten back to you guys sooner i have been sick these past few days.

So i went and opened the hood after the 2 days of being sick and i think i have narrowed it down to the cam shaft seal or the threading in the cam. I Cleaned it out thoroughly before the past 2 days and now there was more sitting oil.

either that or the top drivers side is leaking it and dropping it down onto the cam.
i hope it turns out to be just one of these seals.

Would it leak from there if it wasn't being run?

thanks guys

 

I did the top two seals just fine. I went to do the bottom one and of course the parts store sold me the wrong part. So I cannot finish it tonight.
I was looking at where to put the timing back and i noticed there are 2 marks on my upper drivers side sprocket.

I dont know if someone did an accidental slip and dinged the plate in but it looks like a timing mark.
Which should i line it back up to??

thanks guys