I have been working on my Neon for a week or so now. I had a leaky front crankshaft oil seal. The timing cover was also broken and full of oil. Today, we finished everything, new belts, a new timing cover, and even a new crankshaft outer pulley.It is now leaking oil from somewhere above the oil filter and oil pump area.I replaced the head gasket a year or so ago and the oil isn't coming from that high up.

Any thoughts on where to start?

 

have you check the oil pan gasket or the rear main seal?

 

probably the rear main seal. but as fast said, it could be the oil pan gasket. could just replace both cause if the rear main seal hasn't been replaced yet, then it will probably let go anyways.

 

The rear main seal isnt by the oil pump guys. It could possibly be oil filter adapter gasket. I would shoot for it being the oil pan leaking. snug up the bolts while your under there.
You MIGHT have the bedplate itself leaking but thats pretty rare unless its been overheated to the point it shuts off a few times.
All i can tell you to do is dry evrything off. have the car up on good jack stands or ramps., clean and dry evrything again. start it up then lay under it with a light and try to see where its coming from.
Its not my fault if your a dumbass and get smashed or burn your face off on the exhaust while trying to do this

 

Well it isn't the oil pressure sensor. It is clearly somewhere over/above the oil filter. There is a switch that goes into the block in the vicinity above the oil filter. Do you know what this is? I snugged up the oil pan bolts. They were a little loose. I am going to try to clean things up and give it another try to see where the damn thing is leaking from. If it is the gasket between the oil pump and the filter adapter is that a difficult thing to replace? More later after I crawl under the damn thing again...

 

Ya know, from what you are saying it sounds like you have a faulty cam seal, not crank seal. These are known to just "pop out" of the head and cause the oil to leak into the timing cover and or down the back and side of the engine. I know that when I did the head gasket on mine I noticed the cam seal was throwing oil, not the head gasket (but the head gasket was still bad, just a coincidence between the two) The switch you are talking about above the oil filter is the crank sensor, it has a little o-ring on it with one bolt holding it in, I doubt that is your problem though because of the oil in the timing cover, not to mention how much oil it was throwing. I know that they now make a bracket for the cam seal so it dosent pop out any more, but they werent always put on there stock. Now I read also that you said you were afraid of pulling the cam pulleys, dont worry about this. They arent press fit like the other ones, they just have the bolts and a pin on the cam to keep it turning with it. Once you get the bolt off they are loose and pull right off with one hand. Then the back timing cover just comes off with some bolts ect. . But like I said, check that cam seal, I am 14 and have completed several head jobs on these cars and if I can do it, Im sure you can lol Here is somthing explaining that cam seal from allpar.com: http://allpar.com/neon/repairs.html

 

Thanks for the note. I cleaned up everything and it appears that the oil is coming from behind the oil pump and above the filter or filter adapter. It drips at about one drip every three seconds.

I see in the manual that there is an O ring between the oil pump and what's above the oil filter. Do you know if I can replace this O ring without having the pull the oil pump? Can I remove the filter, the filter adapter and then get to the O ring? The book shows that O ring but only getting to it with the oil pump removed.

 

I dunno. You might just have to follow what the manual says... Is it a haynes manual? If so then trust it, I have one for every car I work on and they always have the most straight forward answers and tips. Sorry I couldnt be any help here, Mine only has 89000 on it so I havent had to mess with the oil pump yet (thank god) But good luck, and before you go about tearing out the oil pump, make sure that that is your problem. I dont belive that it is that big of a job since it is a fwd car and no crossmember under the oilpan or anything. Beware though when you are re-torquing the bolts on it, they can be pretty fragile and it sucks to shear one. GOOD LUCK!!

 

U get anything done?

 

Hey that "switch" you call it above the oil filter is the crank sensor. the plastic can crack and leak, or the o-ring dries out., pull it out and take a look. if its cracked replace it.