I've had my car back together for 2 years now and ever since I've gotten it back together I've had a small oil leak. I don't accept this and I've tried tracking it down before when my water pump burst and I was unable to since I assumed that the water had washed the oil deposits away keeping me from tracking down the leak.

I went so far as to buy a brand new oil pan but the leak persists.
My timing belt is a bit tight I think and making a small whirr when I free Rev the engine and I have a stubby oil pump shaft so I've got the car apart right now trying to track down this oil leak before I do anything else, the only problem is it's very unapparent where the oil is coming from. I have heard that one of the mount bolts goes through an oil passage and so this was tmwhat I suspected was the leak buuut I'm not seeing anything from that area.
The little shelf at the bottom that seals with the timing belt cover has oil on top of it but there's nothing hinting that the leak is behind it... Looks like it could be front main seal or maybe the oil drive gear??
Does anyone else have a mystery oil leak like this that's resolved it or am I doomed to just leak oil onto everyone driveways?

 

If it seems to be coming from the motor mount bracket, one of the bolts requires thread sealer as it goes through to one of oil return ports in the block. It's probably that.

 

I have a similar very small leak coming from similar area. Its absolutely unapparent where the source is. Ive pulled it apart 3 times including timing belt and pulleys and cant seem to track it down. Wonder if Sean is right that its one of the bolts that plug an oil galley.

 

Letsgetthisdone is correct.
If you get a flashlight, look inside the second hole when removing the motor mount, and you WILL find your sneaky leak, trust me.
Clean the hole with break cleaner, and coat the threads with permatex rtv, torque to spec, case closed..

Or find the appropriate thread locker that is oil resistant.
Take care.

 

It's in the manual. IIRC it's the middle bolt.

 

Here it is, I think. Is this say all the bolts related to #30 need adhesive on them? Getting my hopes up here to fix this little drip since I put so much effort into making sure things are done right on my car.

 

No, only one goes through. It's very easy to tell when you look in the holes.

 

I had this problem too and it was that middle motor mount bolt. Not sure why Mitsu cast the blocks this way as they could have used a shorter bolt there and it would have been nice and sealed up. My oil also pooled up near the oil pump gear making me think it was that seal.

 

This is exactly what I was thinking as well, actually Pal, I think your thread is what lead me to find that bolt.
My question now is it this on circled in red? I took this bolt out, no oil on it at all, but there also no thread locker or rtv either.
From the fsm this looks like the bolt but there no evidence of oil on it.



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The oil doesn't get to the bolt head. It seeps out from between the bracket and block.

 

Even the threads and the end don't look like it's ever seen oil?

I'll rtv it and see but that sure doesn't seem to be the leak on mine

 

That's not the right bolt. The bolt you need to pull out is behind the tensioner pulley.

 

Well this seems like a good time to 3d print the model of cam locating tool I modeled for the 2.4 based block... Thanks for the second pic, thats what I was looking for.

 

Shoot, oh well. I guess next timing belt job I'll do it then. I already got everything tensioned and put back together.
I guess the plus here for me is I don't have that whirr sound coming from the timing belt anymore so I can safely Rev it out without having the stub shaft eat into the oil pump housing

 

Alright. I decided I couldn't live with myself if I knew what to do and didn't do it while the car was already going to be down waiting on new lug nuts, already jacked up.. So I got back to this point and all in I'm only an hour in and ready to take the bolt out.

For anyone wondering, it's the middle bolt. Behind the tensioner lol.