OK, long story as short as I can.

At the AMC SA dyno day on Saturday the guys running the dyno checked my oil level before they fired it up. Something they always do, apparently a lot of people rock up with very low oil levels. They found that my oil level was very low, about 3mm below the low mark. The lowest I've ever seen it. That shocked me, I'm fastidious about checking my oil level, I checked it a few days earlier and it was smack on the full mark. I changed the oil & filter about 4,000k ago. They topped it up with about a litre of decent oil and didn't charge me a thing.

Anyway, was under the car just now checking out the front sway bar bushes to see if they were worn enough to need replacing (replaced the rears yesterday).

I noticed oil down the front side of the sump and some had pooled around one of the top sump bolts (the one closest to the front of the car).

No oil on the garage floor though.

I then noticed a bolt sticking out which didn't look right, and it had a fair bit of dark oil around it.

It was the lower bolt on the timing belt auto tensioner, see pic from manual:

http://i990.photobucket.com/albums/af28/kj380/380TimingBeltAutoTensioner.jpg

The lower bolt in those two diagrams.

This bolt was barely finger tight.

Judging from the path and distance from this bolt to where the oil had pooled on the front-most sump bolt, it sort of looks like oil had been leaking from here. And probably only losing/leaking oil when the oil pressure is high, which would explain why no oil on the garage floor.

But I can't see how oil would be leaking out of this bolt hole, surely the timing belt auto tensioner bolts don't go into anywhere connected to oil?

I had the timing belt changed about a month ago.

So I tightened this bolt up.

Have I done the right thing?

Or is this bolt meant to be loose and sticking out?

KJ.

you have 2 issues i think . the lower bolt doesnt go into an oil gallery so may have been left loose when the TB was done. they get tightened to 25nm.
the oil leak needs to be cleaned first to locate where its coming from.

Take it back to where you did the timing belt. Make sure they know you arent happy with their work, finding loose autotensioner bolt etc....

Make them find out what they did, and make them replace it if it was their fault

If that bolt was loose, chances are the other is too. Whatever happened to the old mechanics rule, "check everything twice"?

If that bolt was loose, chances are the other is too. Whatever happened to the old mechanics rule, "check everything twice"?

Max,

I checked the other bolt, it was already done up tight. I reckon the bozo at the dealership (maybe an apprentice) just missed doing up the bottom bolt coz you can't see it from above. The one bolt done up tight was probably enough to hold the auto tensioner in place for a good while, but I guess that eventually the auto tensioner would move enough to result in incorrect tension on the timing belt. Which in turn could have caused a minor problem which would have been a real bitch to diagnose, or maybe a major problem with catastrophic results.

Thanks for the advice guys, maybe I have an oil leak out of a seal somewhere that only leaks under pressure. Will check it out.

With the oil issue my guess would be either rocker cover or rear cam seal and oil is running down the block

Has be beat why they even remove that tensioner unless it was replaced as it does not need to come off to do the timing belt.

Does oil come out the block, and into the bolted on piece of the auto tensioner? If the lower bolt was loose, would the oil pressure be high enough to push the oil out past the gasket, and the shortest path out happened to be through the bolt hole?

With the oil issue my guess would be either rocker cover or rear cam seal and oil is running down the block

Has be (sic.) beat why they even remove that tensioner unless it was replaced as it does not need to come off to do the timing belt.

Is it possible that they removed the tensioner to compress and reset it?

Is it possible that they removed the tensioner to compress and reset it?

Probably. That's what you do if its your first time belt change on a Magna and follow the procedure in the manual. There is a workaround though.

Probably. That's what you do if its your first time belt change on a Magna and follow the procedure in the manual. There is a workaround though.

What's the workaround? Everyone at my work does the compression and reset on all cars... This workaround could put me at an advantage :)

Line up all the marks with the old belt on, put 17 mm spanner on rear cam bolt, apply pressure clockwise - cam will turn slightly and take up slack on the tensioner side, and the shaft of the tensioner will retract slowly. Maintain pressure until you can slip the pin in.

Line up all the marks with the old belt on, put 17 mm spanner on rear cam bolt, apply pressure clockwise - cam will turn slightly and take up slack on the tensioner side, and the shaft of the tensioner will retract slowly. Maintain pressure until you can slip the pin in.

Thanks for the information :) Will definitely remember this!