I took my 98 lude non sh to get an oil change and they must've put some **** in there to have all 5 quarts of oil leak out within 10 minutes after pulling out of the shop driveway....and when i took it back to them they pointed out underneath the car that the timing cover is leaking profusely......other than that the car had no problems prior with no check engine light or anything....car has 170xxx miles......but i was really wondering how much will it cost to fix??? are there any pics you guys can pull up so i can point out which part is leaking......

 

Its a good bet your balancer seal has popped out.

 

^That or the seal for the oil pump. It's almost certain you got oil on the timing belt, you should replace it, it weakens it making it very likely to snap. Your timing cover isn't leaking, its the things inside, only chain driven engines have oil in the timing cover.

 

what is a balancer seal/oil pump seal, and how much roughly will it cost to fix....any ideas?

 

its a bitch to work on if the engine is still in the car.

 

Well I am going to go out on a limb and say that you will prolly have someone do this for you. And if thats the case I wouldnt be surprised if it cost $500.. lol

 

Its most def ur balancer seal or rear main seal .. mine popped out to on me and cost me about 300 bones to do it.. i had to get a new valve cover gasket new front main seal and some other gaskets.. i remember my oil light coming on and i had to drive it to my tech it was leaking oil out like crazy!!

 

If the rear main seal went out it would leak near the transmission not the timing belt cover. Its mostly likely a combination of your balancer seal, oil pump gasket, and Cam seals.

I wouldn't be surprised if your Auto tensioner went out as well and thats probley what caused the leak. I have replaced mine twice in the past I have the manual one now way more reliable. But ya with labor and parts your looking at 600 - 750$ dollars if you take it to a shop. you would save your self 500$ dollars if you learned to do it yourself.

 

thanks for the info people, looks like I'm going to have to pay for the seals and gaskets and such.....fml