huge oil leak!! need help asap

[legacy98gt]

i pulled into my driveway and i noticed alot of smoke under the hood i poped the hod to see oil pouring wat lookd like between the block and the timing belt cover. so i left it to cool off came back and all the oil is on the ground, theres none on the dipstick and about 4 quartes on the ground, wat could it be? oil pump? i dont think cam seals cause they are new and there woulndt be that much oil on the ground and i dont think oil pan gasket cause it didnt have alot of oil on it just wat blew back

[green97gt]

cam or crank front seals

+1million

[legacy98gt]

it would leak that much? it wasnt driping it was pouring out. how do i check the crank seal? do i have to take of the timing belt and everything?

[subie/legacy]

take off your alt, ac, and power steering belts. then remove your timing cover and look behind your crank sprocket.
you might have to remove your crank pulley, but I don't think it would be necessary
good luck.

[decke48]

either cam or crank pushed out

[legacy98gt]

as long as i dont have to take off the timing belt cause its a pita on the 2.5 engines getting the marks all lined up and stuff

[decke48]

if theres something leaking in behind the timing belt cover. the timing belt is coming off to set to anything

[ouch1011]

Plus the belt will be oil soaked and that immediately destroys it.

My bet is either the crank seal pushed out or the oil pump screws came loose.

[legacy98gt]

would that much oil come out if the crank shaft seal came loose? where exactly is the oil pump?

[subie/legacy]

The Oil Pump is on the crank shaft behind the crank sprocket. (I could post a pic if you like)
YES, if that seal were to come loose or damaged I could see it leaking that much.
The crank seal is the only thing keeping your oil behind the Oil pump where it should be.

[ouch1011]

Yeah the crank seal goes right into the oil pump itself so it is entirely possible for the crank seal to fail and cause a very large oil leak. Cam seals could do it as well but I think it is less likely for the cam seals to fail catastrophically like that. My friend actually spun a bearing within 15min of driving on his old car because the front crank seal blew out and dumped 4qts of oil very rapidly.

[legacy98gt]

how exactly do i change the crank shaft seal? and for the cam seals do i have to take off the valve covers and take the cams out? or can i just do it with the cam pulleys off?

[green97gt]

remove timing belt by removing tensioner. remove cam pulleys and crank sprocket.

pop out old seals, grease new ones, put them in.

might as well do timing belt( its easier cause you can use the old belt to hold things etc. it strains the belt, but hey, its the old one)

oil pump/reseal

waterpump

etc.

while your there.

[legacy98gt]

well i just did water pump and belt and tensioner about 50,000 miles ago when it hit 100,000 but i will probobly get a new belt and maybe the oil pump but i think thats it, when i went to kragens they asked if it was the front or rear seal, theres 2? i got the front seal should i get the rear seal too?

[green97gt]

the rear seal they are referring to is at the back of the motor, so no, unless your pulling the motor.

[legacy98gt]

oh ok, i might take off the valve covers while im at it and paint them, thanks and ill be back if i have any more questions

[legacy98gt]

ok i got everything off but i cant seem to get the crank timing belt gear thing off, does it come off? the timing belt is off and everything but i have no clue how to get that thing off, do i need a pulley puller? ill post a pic if no one nows wat im talking about

[green97gt]

the crank sprocket? it should slide right off...spray it with penetrating oil and wait a bit..if your talking about the crank sprocket.

[subie/legacy]

I had to use some type of pulley puller to get my crank sprocket off, when I replaced my oil pump. green97gt method may work. I didn't have time to wait since I only had one day to do everything, and get my car running to drive home.

[JunkerXL]

i had a faulty cam seal kill my lexus :( ls400s die with no oil. so do subarus, come to think of it. a bad cam seal will eat ur lunch, same with crank seal, though often i just see them ozzing, no pouring. urs must be pretty toasted :O