Safe to say I have a front crank seal gone bad by the attached image? If so, feel free to share a good link on doin the job. Thanks all - Happy New Year.

 

Hard to say. Looks like a lot of it might be leaking from above. Clean it up with a couple of cans of brake clean and then put some uv die in the oil and see what happens. The fan can blow oil all over the place and fool you as to the source.

 

X2^^^, the seal actually looks good to me. Look closely where the crank exits the seal, it's rather dry.

 

Note that not only does the seal wear, but it also cuts a groove in the balancer. I routinely get the FelPro front seal kit that includes the repair sleeve for the balancer in addition to the seal.

 

All. I did a couple cans of Engine Degreaser and a trip through a car wash spray hose and I retook pics. Looks like the "plate" around the whole front of the engine. Timing cover?

 

Looks like the rubber half moon seal between the front of the oil pan and the bottom of the timing chain cover is leaking. The good news is that there isn't any pressure there, it is just an annoyance.

The textbook fix would be to drop the oil pan and replace the gasket and seal but if you go that far might as well do a timing chain set replacement. You could just do a timing chain set replacement instead but the oil pan off is a cleaner, neater more thorough job on an older car.

External RTV usually fails as a repair for these leaks

 

I would start by verifying that the oil pan bolts are tight. Pulling the pan with the engine in the car is a royal pain.

 

Thank you, Sugar AND Joe. Sugar, I don't disagree on doing timing chain set replacement - but on a car with 60k miles... I wonder how much it really needs it. Joe, I can certainly check the oil pan bolts but doesn't it look like the leak is starting from higher up on the front of the engine than the pan area? Rather not have to unbolt the engine and lift (however much) to get pan off/out. But, if I gots to then I gots to. It's making a real mess as the oil slide to the back of the engine/oil pan. This ain't no show car but I also don't want to be "that guy" dripping oil around town.

Thanks all.

 

Whether you want to use an oil drip pan on a permanent basis, many do, or a temporary basis - you can at least save yourself some hassles w/ one of these.

 

I have seen enough plugged up oil pickup tubes to forever despise nylon timing sets.

The engine may only have 60k on it, but it’s still 50 years old. It might not be flaking off now, but give it time.

 

Agree with the above.

60K miles is very favorable; but,...the nylon is 50 years old. Pulling either the oil pan or the front cover aren't fun/trivial and your 80% of the way there so if you pull the pan or the front cover I'd suggest considering doing the chain. As the nylon shreds or breaks off in chunks it clogs the oil pickup tube on the oil pump and starves the entire engine for oil. IMHO, neither the oil leak or the chain are issues that need urgent attention, but if you decide to do one do both.