Well, I pulled the timing belt cover and found nothing there. (maybe a little at the bottom) So I think it is the main seal. I need to replace my passenger side half shaft real soon so I might as well replace the seal at the same time. We will see how it goes.

 

Instead of starting a new thread I thought I'd post here. Can anyone identify the cause of this leak?

 

man i love this forum

these are the same leaks i have lol,

couldn't find them before but when changing my waterpump i noticed behind the bottom pully, crankshaft seal was leaking
my valve cover gasket is leaks to, (changed my plugs recently really messy job cause the oil dripped into the sparkplug holes)

now for the 3rd leak, its in the same place as Identity_X

got these leaks after getting the car less then a year ago, car was perfect before, brother drove it like a girl, and then i got it, and had to much fun with it at first.

 

Looks like the opposite of mine, which would be the rear main seal. I think its a lot harder to replace than the front because if Im not mistaken you have to remove the tranny.

 

Well, I did replace my front main seal when I was changing my timing belt last year. If this leak is in fact the rear main seal and the tranny has to be removed to get to it, then I'll probably wait until clutch replacement time and do it all at once.

 

Yes, the tranny must be removed, as well as the flywheel assembly to gain access to the rear main seal. A lot of work to change a lil ol' gasket, eh?

Identity-X, I'm not quite sure to as to where the leak is coming from. It looks like there's grease and crud all over the bell housing. If your RMS is leaking, you shouldn't have that much oil/grease/crap/etc that high on the sides of the tranny.

 

Well, my guess is that over time all the oil and grease made it's way up there.

 

When I swapped engines on my car ('94 into a '90), I had those same leaks. The front was likely made worse by the wobbling crank pulley, but it had been leaking for at least 60k. I'd just clean it off every oil change (or so). The rear looked bad. At first, I blamed the distributor (which was leaking), then I blamed too much tranny fluid (I did overfill it...on my friends the fill O-ring was bad). But, when I pulled the tranny, the entire inside of the bellhousing was COATED in oily dirt. But there was nothing on the flywheel/clutch (which was nicely rust-free...wonder why ). Until you start leaving pools everywhere, both leaks are minor. On the order of ounces per oil change. It's just that the oil tends to spread out and cover a WIDE area.

 

Now that you mentioned it, I think that it might be my distributor o-ring that's making that stain. I'll replace it this weekend in hopes that it's the o-ring that's causing the problem. I know that this is not a major leak, but I want to take care of it before it becomes major.

 

After further inspection I found that my distributor o-ring is also leaking, looks worse than my front seal. I need to change that also. Anyone know the diamater of the o-ring? They sell all differet sizes at Lowes for a few cents, I'll just go pick up one of those.

 

Got my front seal today. I ordered it from www.mazdastuff.com it was $9.00 shipped. Here is a picture:

They also sent me this bas *** koozie for free!

I will let you know how the install went whenever I get around to it.

 

It's a gozinta. It's what your beer goes in to.

 

guys check out www.expressautoparts.com They have a lot of parts for the BP motor and they ship quick ,...
There prices are decent to..
Are you guys sure the 1.8 oil pan uses a gasket , I was told by the dealer that it does not use a gasket just silcone that is oil resistant...

Bruce

 

Just general advice: perhaps if you are trying to make a diagnosis, you should clean everything up, then it ought to be easier to see where the leak is coming from, as it will be closer to the original spot.

 

I am aware of that. It's on my 'to do' list but instead of getting shorter the damn list keeps on getting longer and longer....