Freshly built forged engine leaking oil

[peter.ep80]

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are doing well first of all. I am not that much active onto this site, but I do come here once in while to check some topics, updates and so on.

So basically the problem I am having is that Recently I've built a freshly new fully forged 4efte engine (My mechanic did the build) and for some reason it started to leak oil right away from behind the lower timing belt cover. I just finished the running-in for the time being.

The below is what has been done to try and troubleshoot the issue:-

• We removed both oil pump and sump twice and re-sealed.
• Pump oil seal and Crank oil seal were replaced twice.
• Removed top cover, camshaft plug and camshaft cover and re-sealed everything.

Funny thing is that when we removed the timing belt cover, we didn't see any oil or anything near the timing chain, or the pump or the crank but for whatever reason it leaks. The specifics of the leak is that it starts to drop from underneath the lower timing belt cover (between the sandwich plate at the crank) and the oil will end up going everywhere from the driver's wishbone, up to the steering rack. Now I've just ordered the oil pump bolts, just to make sure that we have replaced everything down there, but I am not that much hopeful. Once on another engine, I had oil leaking but just leaking a drop here and there and it was only the crank seal. We replaced that and was fine. The type of leaking I am having now its a bit problematic and looks to be a big one, considering its a freshly built engine. Timing belt cover will be a bit wet from the outside near the crank pulley.

Do you think it is worth taking out the engine, separating the block from the head and closing everything back together? Block has had the surface of the block face done, cylinders bore and honed, main strips, crank polished and balanced, head cleaned, ported and polished, machining of valves and valve seats, face and shimming, replacing of guides so pretty much everything. Head gasket, I used a Cometic one and pistons did them 74.25 oversize.

Have also attached some H.W. that i've done to compare and contrast everything related down there from a normal 4e to a 4efte engine. Any help, to what might be causing this strange oil leak, would be really appreciate it and thanks a lot to everyone

BR,

Peter

Edited July 13, 2022 by peter.ep80

[Patches]

10 hours ago, peter.ep80 said:

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are doing well first of all. I am not that much active onto this site, but I do come here once in while to check some topics, updates and so on.

So basically the problem I am having is that Recently I've built a freshly new fully forged 4efte engine (My mechanic did the build) and for some reason it started to leak oil right away from behind the lower timing belt cover. I just finished the running-in for the time being.

The below is what has been done to try and troubleshoot the issue:-

• We removed both oil pump and sump twice and re-sealed.
• Pump oil seal and Crank oil seal were replaced twice.
• Removed top cover, camshaft plug and camshaft cover and re-sealed everything.

Funny thing is that when we removed the timing belt cover, we didn't see any oil or anything near the timing chain, or the pump or the crank but for whatever reason it leaks. The specifics of the leak is that it starts to drop from underneath the lower timing belt cover (between the sandwich plate at the crank) and the oil will end up going everywhere from the driver's wishbone, up to the steering rack. Now I've just ordered the oil pump bolts, just to make sure that we have replaced everything down there, but I am not that much hopeful. Once on another engine, I had oil leaking but just leaking a drop here and there and it was only the crank seal. We replaced that and was fine. The type of leaking I am having now its a bit problematic and looks to be a big one, considering its a freshly built engine. Timing belt cover will be a bit wet from the outside near the crank pulley.

Do you think it is worth taking out the engine, separating the block from the head and closing everything back together? Block has had the surface of the block face done, cylinders bore and honed, main strips, crank polished and balanced, head cleaned, ported and polished, machining of valves and valve seats, face and shimming, replacing of guides so pretty much everything. Head gasket, I used a Cometic one and pistons did them 74.25 oversize.

Have also attached some H.W. that i've done to compare and contrast everything related down there from a normal 4e to a 4efte engine. Any help, to what might be causing this strange oil leak, would be really appreciate it and thanks a lot to everyone

BR,

Peter

Hi Peter,

I'm not that clued up with this sort of issue but wanted to mention 2 things in case you weren't aware already.

1. The 4e-fte had 2 different oil pumps, one with a seal on the pump and the other with the seal on the block so you might want to double check you have the correct oil pump.
2. The parts diagram on the left shows what looks like a 5e oil pump as it has a crank sensor on it which (I don't think) was present on the 4e engine.

If you can get a video of the engine running with the timing cover off then that might help people see where the oil is coming from.

[peter.ep80]

16 hours ago, Patches said:

Hi Peter,

I'm not that clued up with this sort of issue but wanted to mention 2 things in case you weren't aware already.

1. The 4e-fte had 2 different oil pumps, one with a seal on the pump and the other with the seal on the block so you might want to double check you have the correct oil pump.
2. The parts diagram on the left shows what looks like a 5e oil pump as it has a crank sensor on it which (I don't think) was present on the 4e engine.

If you can get a video of the engine running with the timing cover off then that might help people see where the oil is coming from.

HI there and pleasure

Re the pump, Yes I know. In fact my block has got the seal on pump. First time round I purchased the wrong one and was able to re-sell it to get the proper pump.
Re the diagram that you mentioned, some of the 4e got the crank sensor. Very rare as it wasn't something common back in the days.

I will try to remove the cover and will try to also upload a video and will let you know.
 

Thanks for the input.

[peter.ep80]

Forgot to update this thread. Issue had been resolved. We found a small leak from the oil pan. Cleaned that up and re-sealed and all good since then. Thanks all for the help