about almost a month ago i got my cams,springs, and all belts replaced at a shop and retuned. Well 2 days later i noticed a quarter size oil stain on my driveway, so i immediately open my hood and look around. Well i see my drivers side where tranny is "wet" with oil... i go across the motor and notice my block also getting wet in oil. I go under the car and where the oil filter there is the 2 oil lines dripping oil, but the oil is coming from up top somewhere. What can it be? my oil level is still full at above the second notch on dipstick... my coolant is full... not smoking or oil mixing with coolant so i dont think its the head gasket BUT why would my whole block now be wet w oil... it looks like it starts at the head but only drips from passenger side... here are some videos i took..overnight like i said itll leave a quarter size stain its not a heavy leak but it has covered my block cuz it looks wet but oil level is still full.

 

in the first video i thought it was the oil pan but ive cleaned it off since then and thats not it..... even if it was.. it wouldnt explain why it leaks on driver side... thats the only reason i may think it is the head gasket but i domt have any symptoms of the headgasket being blown.

 

It doesn't look very bad. Maybe spilled oil from when they were doing the work.

 

i dont think thats possible... spilled oil would be possible if the block was wet in certain areas BUT over the month the whole block area(behind the turbo mani) got completely covered in oil. And it still drips oil from passenger side... idk if it only leaks at idle cuz my oil level is still full for a month that its been leaking. Overnight itll drip quarter size stains so im not sure. It drives and pulls fine, i have only done around 3 2nd gear pulls since i got it back just to make sure if i smoke or if it makes it leak more but nothing changed the oil level, just getsy block wey w oil.

 

Looks to either your cam seal leaking or you cranks seal remove you lower belt cover to see if it coming out the crank seal if your doing that might as well do a timing belt and water pump

 

oh and those videos are from about 3 weeks ago so the hose and oil filter have more oil on them due to the leak.

 

Your engine will likely experience the leak at higher rpm's as the pressure increases. I have had a similar issue in the past and it was due to the rubber gasket that's sitting between the valve cover and the cam bearing cap closest to the cam gears. my suggestion is remove the valve and check if the rubber gasket is not broken and sitting properly.

Edit: This is what I am referring to. you could probably inspect it without removing the cover.

 

i did remove the cam gear
cover and let it idle and didnt see any oil leaking out. What i see is that it tarts from where the head meets the block... thats y i thought it was te headgasket but im not seeing those symptoms. And if it was a cam seal, why am i leaking on the driver side and have my block get wet with oil starting from the driver side and going to te passenger side? Its weird i know its hard to diagnose by my info and the videos i posted but i just reassurance its not the headgasket or something major. Would it be ok to drive 3 hours so i can take it to the shop? Stopping of course and checking the oil level but hasnt gone down at all this whole time i doubt itll be low

 

did they change the head studs as well?

 

no i didnt have them install arp headstuds

 

Oil can look like it's coming from the headgasket even if it is not.

It's because when oil is fresh out of the engine, it is very clear... sometimes the ribbon of leaking oil is so thin that you can't even see it if you are looking straight at it. However once it meets some point for it to collect (many times at the headgasket), it will pool and collect dirt from the block and air, then drip from the lowest point of the gasket. Or, the oil will get picked up by the swirling air in the engine bay, and mist the back side of your block.

Personally, I would spray the engine clean with a good degreaser, or if it's not grimey, just spray down with a mixture of Dawn dish soap and water. Then change your cam seals and your cam cover gaskets.

After you are sure that all those seals are good, then watch for the oil again. but I would bet my paycheck on one of those two gaskets being the culpret.

 

yea thats what i was thinking it had to do something with the cams since i just got them installed, but i know the cams are on the passenger side and would make sense. BUT since i notice my driver side area was also wet with oil, i had to thinknit was something on the whole motor that was leaking and the only thing that would be is the headgasket.

I plan on hopefully taking it to the shop next week... its hard having the shop 3hrs away and finding rides back thats y i havent taken it sooner.

 

I used a dye to track down an oil leak in my 2nd gen eclipse. What I thought was a rear main seal turned out to be a leaking head gasket. The head was warped just enough to allow oil dripping out, but wasn't blown per say. If your having trouble locating it, this might help track it down. Good luck.

 

I bet money this is your problem, when i did my cams i was in a rush put one on backwards and had the exact same leak. I though it was the oil cooler and replaced it and in the process saw it dripping from the timing belt cover and traced it up to that. you need to take the valve cover off and the cam caps and check those gaskets are in there correct, I even added some rtv around the corners and on the cam caps and havent had a problem since.

 

If you are going through the hassle of removing the valve cover you should just replace the gasket with a new one and make sure its properly seated and that should fix your issue and seeing you are having the issue after cam install.