mrbo18

So I've had my 90 Firebird sitting for quite a while. It's been driven sparingly the the last 6 months or so. The last two months of that period I've only had it running 2-3 times. I had been planning on selling it but decided to get it registered, insured and inspected and maybe hang onto it now because I got a new job and can afford some pet projects.

Anyway, I fired it up and took it down to my local mechanic for him to take a look and see if it would pass. He told me the front rotors and pads needed replaced because they were rusted to the point of being seized and that I needed some new bulbs here and there. I wasn't terribly surprised by that. The main thing that was troubling was he said when they checked emissions it poured oil on the floor and produced about a 8-12 inch puddle in that short time.

It's had a bad pan for a while now so I thought maybe it got really bad over the winter. But he told me he thought it may be the rear seal. He had another guy come take a look and he thought it was more likely to be the distributor o-ring.

I did some searches here and found some threads on how to check for the o-ring so I'm going to try that once I get home from work. I'm also going to put down some cardboard beneath it and let it run to see how much is actually coming out.

The main thing I was wondering is does it seem likely that it could be the pan that's bad and they're overlooking it?

Secondly; is the o-ring a job I could do on my own? I don't have the means here to pull the transmission if it's the seal. I would need to take it back to my dad's garage about 70 miles away for that.

Also, anyone who's had these issues before, how much did the job end up running you?

Thanks,

Brandon

cIaRmOaCrZo

highly doubt it is the distributor gasket BUT is a possibility. but the v6 is notorious for the rear cam cover leaking oil...so yeah it could be a rear main seal, but im deffinatly pointing toward the rear cam cover. either way, the transmission has to be removed to replace either of them. so if you do get the transmission pulled, go ahead and replace the cam cover gasket and the rear main seal together. they are cheap, but the R&R of the tranny will be the main expense

jakemussman

iTrader: (3)

could be the distributor O ring. When mine went I thought it was the rear main. I pulled the inspection plate and there wasnt any oil in there. started looking elsewhere and found that the oil was leaking down the sides of the bell housing. after driving when I parked I would come out to a couple ounces of oil on the ground. replaced O ring and problem was solved. I went ahead and replaced my distributor, cap, and rotor at the same time because you have to pull it anyways. you will need a timing light to reset the timing when you are done.

ex-x-fire

Use a sbc distributor base gasket w/ a new o-ring to stop the leak forever.

ttypecamaro

iTrader: (2)

I vote rear cam cover from experience. aka "rear engine cover" at the dealer.

Six_Shooter

iTrader: (2)

Bad idea, since it changes the mesh of the gears, and a new O-ring will usually outlast the vehicle for most people at this point, anyway.

Large leaks like this are most often the Distributer rive O-ring.

I've never had the the rear cam cover leak on me in the many 660s I've owned. Not saying it can't or doesn't happen, just that I've had to replace more dizzy O-rings, than anything else.

If it was the oil pan causing a puddle like that, it would happen regarless of engine running state.

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

I don't know about any of these solutions...

1. How does a thin paper gasket change the dizzy gear mesh enough to matter?
2. If your engine is like mine is, it automatically drops a quart of oil at 2000 miles. Don't know from where (sealed the cam cover with RTV and replaced the RMS myself at the same time at 213,900, and the dizzy o-ring too several times), but that's what it does. One day it'll be fine, and the next, "whoops! Where did that quart of oil go?".

I'd do all of them if the car is going to be down for any significant amount of time anyways.

Six_Shooter

iTrader: (2)

Ask the guys who have had to replace their cams an dizzy/oil pump drive gears, because the gears got chewed up after adding that paper gasket.

ex-x-fire

I've resealed more then 50 6-60 intakes, I always use that gasket & never had a problem. Parts like the dist. drive do have alittle tolerance for slight differences. The gear engages atleast a 1 1/2.

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

Yep... Run mine to 4000 any number of times. Removed the dizzy (swapped for a reman after intermittent stalling problems just in case the PU was going south) and found NO damage to the gear whatsoever. Whomever had the chewed up gears must have had some other problem not related to the gasket. I've used both the gasket and RTV to seal the dizzy.
That gasket is HOW thick? How would something that thin throw the gear mesh off enough to do anything? Besides, how would the V6 not be able to get away with it while the SBC and BBC do everyday in race applications?

mrbo18

Thanks for the input everyone. I ran it a bit at home and it is dropping a lot of oil. After running it for a bit then checking the oil on the ground, I crawled under the hood and took a look back at the base of the distributor and it was extremely saturated so I'm guessing/hoping that's the main problem.

I'm considering doing this myself. It seems easy enough to get to and the instructions in my repair manual don't seem that complicated. The only concern I have is that jakemussman said I would need to reset the timing when I was done. Unless I'm misinterpreting it, the manual says that shouldn't be necessary if the engine doesn't crank and I have everything reinstalled as I marked it when it came out.

I don't want to mess something up worse so I'd appreciate some input. Would this be simpler/safer to just have the mechanic do? I always like to try my hand at repairing things myself on it but I'm not super experienced and if this is something that could cause significant problems if it goes wrong then I would rather avoid it.

Thanks,

Brandon

Six_Shooter

iTrader: (2)

Just make sure you mark the location of the dizzy base and where the rotor is when you remove the dizzy.

Once you put it back together, make sure those lines are lined up and you will be real close to where it was before.

You have two options after that, take it to a mechanic that still owns a timing light and have them set the timing for you, or buy a timing light and set it yourself.

If the timing is off by a few degrees it won't make a huge difference, at least it's not like it's not going to run. If you plan do do your own maintenance it would be a good time to learn how to properly set timing anyway.

ex-x-fire

You just have to loosen the hold down bolt enough to slide the clamp off the base (its slotted).
Make sure you know where the timing connector is as you'll have to disconnect it to set the timing. Follow the emissions sticker for its location.
The oil leak could be coming from the rear of the intake also, quit common. Check the front of the intake for leaks, the ends are sealed w/ rtv.

RT66DAVE

I'm a new member, but have had much experiance with the gm 60 degree 2.8, 3.1 & 3.4 v6 engines. And since I do not know where you live or what climate you live in, all I can vouch for is Arizona where i live. In all the instances where i have repowered my 1988 (2.8 to 3.4) and my son's 91 RS (2.8 to 3.4) and my 1987 Fiero 2.8, I have seen very few rear cam cover gaskets leaking. And the one piece neoprene rear main seal doesn't leak a lot. But all my 60 degree v6's have had the distributor o ring leak. It's easy to spot. using a bright trouble light or a bright sunny day and a small mirror, look at the recess in the block where the distributor hold down clamp is located and you will see oil. another sign is a leak at the rear of the engine that runs down the back of the right cylinder head and drips off the starter. A GM repair bulletin some years back covered this topic with the dealers and warned service techs to check the dist. o ring first before suggesting a costly rear main seal repair. A tip given at the time also suggested using the small block 350 V8 gasket along with a new oring to help seal the leak. I hope this info helps.