Howdy folks,
Well, my '95 Escort Wagon has been running pretty good since I re-headed it. It was pissing oil everywhere from a blown out oil sender a while ago, but I got that replaced and the major leakage stopped... however, in the month since then, it still seems like there's oil getting thrown around under the hood.... and it's towards the #1/timing belt side of the engine... weird thing is, it seems to be making a lot of mess in drip spots while parked, while the level doesn't seem to be moving at all on the dipstick... it is possible I guess that it's still the oil from the sender breakage slowly dripping off everything.
Anyway, I'm a little suspicious of the cam seal, because I didn't like how it went in, didn't seem very tight at all, previous seal had some hard sealant around it, but FSM said to install dry. So, it went in dry.
However, with it being winter, and with me mirror polishing the chambers, the motor hasn't got very hot at all all this time, I haven't even had the fan cut on once, even on real long runs, I've not had it get very hot. I know before I blew the HG and had the head off, in testing the cooling system I had to sit with my foot on the gas and give it 2000 RPM or so for 20 minutes on a 24C day to get the cooling fan to come on... so I'm wondering if the seal hasn't really "got up to temperature" with warm enough oil for it to seal up properly yet, or whether it's seeping because it's not installed right, or actually needed some goop whether the FSM said so or not. It was that blue kind of material by the way, neoprene?
There's signs of oil all up that side of the motor, but can't pinpoint where it's wettest, and it's a real thin film really. It could also be the valve cover or HG seeping a little I guess. I re-torqued the valve cover bolts just in case. The HG is MLS and the head was milled flat. Uses Torque to Yield bolts so can't retorque head.
Anyway, it's a royal PITA to get the timing cover off, (requires dislocating mounts and jacking motor up and down) to even look, so wondering if there's any chance it might seal up by itself still, or whether it's likely it might blow out, and whether I should try any crankcase additive sealers.
Also have to double check it's not the PS pump/reservoir chucking any fluid around, it foamed over on me when it was first started up, trouble is that it's got a bit of a muddy ATF/PS fluid mixture in it, that's about the same color as oil is nowadays (Have you noticed, a lot of it's darker out of the can than it used to be)
To give you an idea of possible consumption, since I fixed the sender leak and topped the oil up after that, the level has moved maybe a maximum of 1/8 of an inch on the stick in about 2,500 miles, where the range on the stick is about an inch.
Thanks for any hints and suggestions.
RW222
BTW, there's no signs of gas or coolant getting into the oil and keeping the level up.
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