Hi! I think I have a leak in my front oil seal(I think thats what its called) It's a 98 accent. I was wondering if the engine has to come out to replace it? How much would this cost? I don't have a clue about cars but this is what a friend of mine told me was wrong. Any help would be great

 

How many miles does it take before you have to add a quart of oil to the engine?

 

Sorry. I haven't really noticed. I added oil a couple weeks ago and its down on add now. I haven't driven the car in a couple of days because smoke was coming out from under the hood and the dash warning lights keep coming on and off. Someone told me this is probably because oil is getting on the alternator. My Dad wanted me to find out if the motor had to come out to fix the problem. I'm trying to decide if this problem is worth fixing or if the car is a lost cause.

 

You can replace the oil seals on the front of the motor without taking out the motor. It does require taking off the timing belt, which is not so easy but doable. Typically, mechanics will recommend replacing oil seals, water pump, and timing belt all at the same time. Check your trouble codes before you do anything. You can go to Autozone and they will check your error codes for free.

 

Thank you for your help! Greatly apprieciated[sm=smiley14.gif]

 

Storm, I believe jsinton is right, I believe you can replace the front main oil seal without pulling the engine. Let me warn you though, and I'm not trying to scare you, but you'll have to pull all that stuff off the front of the engineyou know, kind of like in this order; all the belts, water pump pulley (not the water pump), timing belt cover, timing belt (just make sure you go ahead and line up the timing marks before removal), main harmonic balancer pulley, and the little timing gear on the crankshaft should just slide off. I think after you get all that removedlike that isn't enough work already huh? (-:you should be able to reach in there with a little seal removal tool and pop out the old seal.
I replaced my timing belt on my 1998 Accent back in January and let me tell you, like we say down here in the south, it was a BOOGER! Needless to say, I don't want to do it again, but then again, I hate doing mechanic work anyway. If a person had a nice shop with all the tools it probalby wouldn't be that bad. I was outside freezing crawling around on the ground and stuff. One more thing, when you remove the harmonic balancer pulley, I just got my impact wrench, made sure that baby was set to loosen bolts and let 'er fly. It came right off with no problem. Then the pulley should just slide right off without needing a pullermine did. And, that's not all, I put a little bottle jack under 'neath my engine with a board between the oil pan and the jack and removed that front engine mount right next to the right fender so I could jack the engine up and down, it's makes it a whole lot easier getting that motor mount out of the way right there so you can get your hands down in there and remove stuff, like that water pump pulley, I had to use a tiny break-over bar with, I think, a 10 millimeter socket on it to break the bolts loose. You'll have to take the right front tire off and that plastic piece behind it too. Like I said, the more stuff you get out of your way, the better.

Good luck and have fun...

milli

 

One more thing Storm, if I had it tore down that far, I would go ahead and replace the timing belt. That's why I was working on mine in the first place, to replace my timing belt that broke and ALL the valves that bent when it happened. Ahhh yes, I learned a valuable lesson, belts don't last forever.

Have a good one...

milli

 

I was trying to figure out if the leak was in fact engine oil and if the leak was bad enough to justify fixing it. It is obviously "yes" on both issues. As pointed out by other forum members, the seal can be replaced without having to remove the engine from the car. I think further diagnosis is needed. This could also be a pan gasket leak, which is much cheaper and easier to fix than the seal replacement. Someone needs to power wash the bottom of the engine and then try to observe where the oil is coming from. Take the car to a good mechanic since you admit to being "clueless" about cars.

Good luck.