20/8/09 - Phils Oil Leak

A further tip sent in by Phil, this time replacing the front crankshaft oil seal.

Over to you Phil,

I noticed oil was getting onto the exhaust catalyst and producing quite a strong smell ! It was coming from the front of the engine.
Finally, one day when I stopped at a roundabout, it looked like JimJim3 was on fire with all the oil smoke from under the bonnet ! Time to investigate ?

I diagnosed it as the front crankshaft oil seal. I got a replacement ( About £12 ). Removed the radiator and both drive belts. then remove the viscous fan, The big problem was undoing the 17mm bolt that secures the crankshaft drive pulley to the crank. With a long bar on the bolt, engine in gear and foot brake hard on, the vehicle just moved rather than the bolt undoing. It was finally resolved in 2 seconds with a good quality air gun !

The pulley then just  pulled off easily. Using an old screwdriver, made into a small hook, the old seal was removed from the timing chain cover and the new, ready greased, seal
fitted. The bolt was tightened with the air gun. Whilst the radiator was out, it had a bath as per my recent article.
Then everything was reffited. Once the existing oil on the exhaust had burnt off, it was back to a nice clean Jimny again, until the next offroad event !!!!!!

Another small problem.

Whilst doing the seal I decided to replace both drive belts.  I had two new spares that I'd carried for nearly 3 years. On trying to fit them they were obviously too short !

I checked with my local motor factors. They gave both belt as the same with a length of 813mm. These were too short.

The existing alternator belt was actually marked as 835mm and the power steering belt measured 855mm. So it was back to the shop and buy two belts the correct length. BEWARE !