98r50fan Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 i have a 98 3.3 an i have an oil leak i just noticed the other day.. not sure where its coming from its below the valvecover on the left side when facing the front of the truck and it covering my oilpan and alternator in oil so it has to be above those... my friends dads a mechanic he said maybe a camseal? has this happened to anyone on here? im looking to fix it and see what its going to run me. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theexbrit Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Hmmm, not sure. I have a slight leak from my valve covers but you say it's below that. I'll have a look down that side & see if I can see what it might bee. I believe the oil pressure sender unit is down there, you could try that first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnm Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 Had a leak in the same place on my 99. It turned out to the be the cam seals (the other choice was the head gasket). It was around $1400 for labor and parts. Basically, it's a timing belt change with the cam seals. My cost was probably a little higher than average, but I have a good mechanic that I trust, which is worth the extra cost to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pathfounder Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 For $1400 to repair a VG33, I'd run it to the ground and put in another one for $500 instead. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnm Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 Put in another what for 500? Auto parts and labor must be really cheap in Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98r50fan Posted September 8, 2012 Author Share Posted September 8, 2012 14 is crazy to put into my truck since i only paid 400 for it.. ill have to get it checked ouut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnm Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 LOL, around here for 500, you get scrap metal. Shoot, I've been looking for a car with better mpg for my wife. For $1500 these are the kind of cars I find: 92 Saturn, blown head gasket 99 Civic, transmission blown 88 Accord, no reverse, needs tires, suspension, crash damage repair, and they don't have a title 04 Ford Minivan, bring your own wheels and tires cuz it don't have any, no 2nd gear, no lights, odometer broken Sorry to get off topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pathfounder Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 An entire engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnm Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 where are you going to get an engine and get it installed for $500? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trogdor636 Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 Not everyone pays for shop labor....so $500 for the engine and self installation = $500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnm Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 Well, then, if you have the know-how, tools and time to replace an entire engine, you can do the cam-seals for the $50, or whatever they cost, yourself and you wouldn't have to spend $500 for a new engine, or $1400 for shop labor, would you? But that's completely beside the point, the OP asked what it would cost to have the cam-seals replaced (presumably by a shop). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devonianwalk Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 This is the kind of scenerio where you wish the OP was a neighbor so, you could help him out. Not really that big of a job if you've been in there already. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluewulf73 Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 i have a 98 3.3 an i have an oil leak i just noticed the other day.. not sure where its coming from its below the valvecover on the left side when facing the front of the truck and it covering my oilpan and alternator in oil so it has to be above those... my friends dads a mechanic he said maybe a camseal? has this happened to anyone on here? im looking to fix it and see what its going to run me. thanks Hey 98r50fan, I had a large leak coming from the valve covers. It turned out all the bolts were very loose. I would encourge you to ensure all the bolts are tight (beware, I believe they are Phillips-head bolts, they were on mine) without stripping them. It took about a week of the truck running on city/HWY for the oil to burn off and me to realize that is all it was...I got lucky, I guess. No loss in checking it out though...I was losing alot of oil and was worried as the engine made funny noises at start-up. After tightening the valve covers, even through a 5500 km road trip, the truck lost/burn no oil. Hopefully it is something simple like that. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 It depends on who you go to. The guy I use charged me $580 to swap my bad VG30 for the New/used JDM VG30 engine I bought, and the price included the few parts he needed to do the swap, timing belt and a radiator hose, swapping the TB over as the JDM engine did not have cruise. Truck runs perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taff Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 i had oil leak right below the left valve cover and it wound up being valve cover gasket. when i took the valve cover off' the gasket was hard and broke off where it created a small gap. lucky it was the left valve cover as right side would have been a bitch with intake manifold sitting right above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devonianwalk Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 i had oil leak right below the left valve cover and it wound up being valve cover gasket. when i took the valve cover off' the gasket was hard and broke off where it created a small gap. lucky it was the left valve cover as right side would have been a bitch with intake manifold sitting right above. Same here. I still need to take the time to replace the drivers side gasket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fixinto Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 i have a 98 3.3 an i have an oil leak i just noticed the other day.. not sure where its coming from its below the valvecover on the left side when facing the front of the truck and it covering my oilpan and alternator in oil so it has to be above those... my friends dads a mechanic he said maybe a camseal? has this happened to anyone on here? im looking to fix it and see what its going to run me. thanks I had an oil leak on my 96 3.3 it started smallish and got bigger and bigger till one day on a cold morning i was filling up with gas and noticed oil coming from under the passenger side of the hood. Popped the hood and looky there oil on my exhaust manifold. so i sacked up and did the valve cover gaskets. while i was at it i did all new hoses on the intake, and changed the pcv valve and plugs wires distributor cap and button. flushed the cooling system ect... that was all last weekend. looks like "most" of the oil leak is gone if its not all together gone. giving it a couple of days before i pay close attention to it. had oil in the same spot. half of the alt, and a wiring plug near it right under it. "maybe something to do with ac" and all under my oil pan ect... so ya, the valve cover gaskets were like hardend pastic instead of rubber when i got down to them. i would probably start there, pretty cheap repair and just takes some time and effort. word to the wise tho. if you pcv valve hose and the coolant hose right beside it under the "air vent" on top of the manifold are good, dont replace them unless u wanna wait a week for specially ordered hose, or fab something up urself. but far as the oil leak goes. lookin good so far. hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fixinto Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 I had an oil leak on my 96 3.3 it started smallish and got bigger and bigger till one day on a cold morning i was filling up with gas and noticed oil coming from under the passenger side of the hood. Popped the hood and looky there oil on my exhaust manifold. so i sacked up and did the valve cover gaskets. while i was at it i did all new hoses on the intake, and changed the pcv valve and plugs wires distributor cap and button. flushed the cooling system ect... that was all last weekend. looks like "most" of the oil leak is gone if its not all together gone. giving it a couple of days before i pay close attention to it. had oil in the same spot. half of the alt, and a wiring plug near it right under it. "maybe something to do with ac" and all under my oil pan ect... so ya, the valve cover gaskets were like hardend pastic instead of rubber when i got down to them. i would probably start there, pretty cheap repair and just takes some time and effort. word to the wise tho. if you pcv valve hose and the coolant hose right beside it under the "air vent" on top of the manifold are good, dont replace them unless u wanna wait a week for specially ordered hose, or fab something up urself. but far as the oil leak goes. lookin good so far. hope this helps didnt notice oil, noticed oil smoke. sorry for the mix up been a long day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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