leakage behind the crankshaft pulley

[newbie321]

Hi,

I am observing the leakage somewhere behind the crankshaft pulley. My suspicion is that the crankshaft oil seal needs to be replaced.
AND I want to ask couple questions those of you that had this problem or know about this:

1) The fluid that comes out is brownish, rusty color like a very diluted choc. milkshake. Is this just a coolant or coolant/oil mixture? I smelled the fluid and it does not smell like oil though.

2) how do you change the crankshaft oil seal?

3) Is this is an oil/coolant mixture that is leaking, what are the possible hypothesis as of why the oil would mix with coolant?

Thank you,

[vdubbugman53]

Originally Posted by newbie321

Hi,

I am observing the leakage somewhere behind the crankshaft pulley. My suspicion is that the crankshaft oil seal needs to be replaced.
AND I want to ask couple questions those of you that had this problem or know about this:

1) The fluid that comes out is brownish, rusty color like a very diluted choc. milkshake. Is this just a coolant or coolant/oil mixture? I smelled the fluid and it does not smell like oil though.

2) how do you change the crankshaft oil seal?

3) Is this is an oil/coolant mixture that is leaking, what are the possible hypothesis as of why the oil would mix with coolant?

Thank you,

sounds like an oil coolant mix....to replace the main seal you will need to remove the harmonic balance and timing belt gear there. you can then unbolt the seal and put a new one on with no removing of the crank. you could have coolant in your oil due to a bad head gasket. the car run ok? how does the coolant in the over flow look? if you drain the oil does all the oil look like this?

[newbie321]

Originally Posted by vdubbugman53

sounds like an oil coolant mix....to replace the main seal you will need to remove the harmonic balance and timing belt gear there. you can then unbolt the seal and put a new one on with no removing of the crank. you could have coolant in your oil due to a bad head gasket. the car run ok? how does the coolant in the over flow look? if you drain the oil does all the oil look like this?

-----
Thank you for a reply.

The car runs OK without any problems. exhaust is clear, nothing else is suspicious.

I have not drained the oil s I can not say anything about oil. I used oil dipstick to see its consistency and such and it looks and smells good to me.

When you say `...OVER FLOW...` where exactly is it located? Do you mean how doe the coolant look when it gets back into the coolant reservouir?

thank you,

[vdubbugman53]

Originally Posted by newbie321

-----
Thank you for a reply.

The car runs OK without any problems. exhaust is clear, nothing else is suspicious.

I have not drained the oil s I can not say anything about oil. I used oil dipstick to see its consistency and such and it looks and smells good to me.

When you say `...OVER FLOW...` where exactly is it located? Do you mean how doe the coolant look when it gets back into the coolant reservouir?

thank you,

yea there should be coolant in the res all the time....but yea how does it look in the bubble?

[geniushanbiao]

How long has the water pump stayed in your engine? If it's quite long it might be just the water pump failure. Whatever problem you have (either water pump or crankshaft oil seal) you have to take off the timing belt so it's a good idea to replace the timing belt and water pump at the same time unless your timing belt and water pump are almost new(let's say, under 20000 miles). Take everything off and then you can determine what is actually leaking.