BIG Oil Leak Options

[Fastbird]

Ok guys, time to fix this. I've had a LARGE oil leak on my Celi for quite some time now. It's odd though, because I can't find it! Here's things I've just checked again:

Pulled the Distributor, no leak, no sign of leaking, O-Ring is fine, inside is dry.
Valve cover has residue along back side, but it's NOT the leak as the residue is dry.

The only things I can think of are it being either the oil pan gasket, head gasket, or the rear main.

My problem in tracking it down is that I have all the undershields off of the car and it's blowing the oil everywhere. Around the front and back of the motor, up on top of the tranny, ect. I'm leaning on the oil pan gasket right now because there's a LOT of residue along the pan rails and some cracked silicone in spots, but the oil on top of the tranny leads me to think otherwise. Good news is that I'm pulling the pan right now to have a 1/8 NPT bung welded in to relocate my oil temp sensor.

Just throwing a feeler out there, seeing if anyone has any other ideas..........as I'm stumped on this one. I know the distributor o-ring is notorious for leaking, but trust me when I say there is ZERO evidence of a leak there and I've thoroughly inspected it today and the seal is fine.

[CaliJeff]

I can't say for certain cuz i aint there, but What i do is i wipe EVERYTHING down, no oil or anything, then start it up briefly. The way u r making it sound, 2-3 seconds will do fine. Then get back underneath and take a look. But yeh, cheack head gasket, oil pan, crack in your engine block, rear main, if ur a manual then the tranny connections as well, etc.

PS just make sure u got oil in the engine before u start it.

[Fastbird]

I can't say for certain cuz i aint there, but What i do is i wipe EVERYTHING down, no oil or anything, then start it up briefly. The way u r making it sound, 2-3 seconds will do fine. Then get back underneath and take a look. But yeh, cheack head gasket, oil pan, crack in your engine block, rear main, if ur a manual then the tranny connections as well, etc.

PS just make sure u got oil in the engine before u start it.

Yeah, tried that, problem is that with lines, hoses, and wiring everywhere, it's really impossible to tell. It's coming from the left hand side (in the MR2 world would be the rear of the motor near the tranny connection) but I can't pinpoint it. I've had the shied off (already got the pan off and scraped both pan and block) and the back of the flywheel is dry with only a hint of residue, so I doubt the problem is the rear main. I hate to say it but I am leaning towards the head due to how high the oil residue everywhere is and that the wettest parts are on the top of the transmission. I really DON'T want to have to pull all this apart............especially since this just became a primary driver.