Well Sunday I dove under the 850 to see if I could locate the source of the oil leak. I started it and very loud ticking noise. Pulled the oil cap off and the ticking does not seem to be coming from the lifters and cams. It seems to be coming from the back of the motor. I shut it off, no new leaking accuring; as it did the other day I drove it. I drove it around the parking lot, not on the road,as I am scared to drive it with this ticking noise. The oil light is still on by the way. The oil shows full on the dip stick. I drove it and put the throttle down around the lot, and the drip starts up. Coming frompossibly within the timing belt housing. Is there a correlation between the oil leak and the ticking sound/timing belt? I mean the light is on, yet the dip stick says it is full. WTF[sm=WTFsgign.gif]?! Now what? I do not believe that it is coming from those lines at the bottom of the motor. I am confused. Period. Any ideas? I have to get this thing fixed.

 

When you say oil light, do you mean the oil pressure light or do you have a 93 with an oil level sensor?
[align=left] [/align]

 

96 w/the oil light. Uhh.....the little red square one on the panel. Says you need oil, another idiot light, not a oil pressure gauge, man I wish I had installed that gauge.

 

Maybe the oil pump went bad.
Is there oil flow up top?

 

I'm with Tech on the potential oil pump problem but this came up on another board a while back.

One other avenue to go down is based on your history with the car.

Was the dipstick ever replaced? It seems that there are a number of different length dipsticks that all show up as the same part number at the stealership.

If your dipstick is to long it will give you a false reading andkeepyoulow on oil.

If you have no history on the car do an oil/filter change and add 5.5 quarts of oil. Start the car and then read the dipstick. If the dipstick is right you should be 1/4 to 1/2 quart low. If you read way over you have the wrong dipstick.

...Lee

 

+1

 

Well what about the oil leak? What would be the source of that? I still think obviouslythe 2 are combined and create the problem. I am qworried about even driving the thing with the tapping sound. I mean it sounds like a wicked lifter tick. When you pull the oil fill cap, there is oil lubricating the lifters etc. I don't know. Thanks for the help and any more ideas please let me know.

 

I would remove the timing belt cover and see if you can locate the source of the leak. The cover is held in place by one 12mm bolt. When the bolt is out, wiggle it upward to remove the cover. Then with a good lighting do a visual inspection.

As to the tapping noise, does it stop once the engine has warmed up, or does it persist? If it persists, then yes try not to drive it until you have found the cause. If the leak is not from the timing belt area, then clean as much as you can and try to find the source. Pics would be very helpful.


JPN

 

Good question, I have not let it warm up since the tapping started. The day it started the car was warm. So it was tapping while warm. I know pics would be quite helpful, but I need to find the camera first. I will pull off the timing belt cover and see if it is leaking from somewhere in there. I am too nervous to let the thing warm up in order to see if the tapping stops. Frustrating, 70 hour work weeks don'tallow much time to work on it.

 

That might be the crank seal on the front of the oil pump leaking.