Am I missing something?

[KensSpider]

In doing some further research, it looks like I am missing a cover on the timing belt. Supposedly, a head gasket job was done about a year ago on this engine, perhaps it was damaged or lost at that time.

Should I replace it?

I have noticed some minor oil pooling in low spots on the top of the engine, could it be coming from the front where the belt is open?

Let's try a picture:


Thanks in advance.

Ken

[mdrburchette]

Yep, the timing cover is missing. I prefer to keep the timing cover in place for safety reasons and to keep debris from messing up the belt, but many people run without one. The cover should not be causing your oil leak, though. Is the oil pooling at the spark plugs? Could be your oil filler cap or cambox covers.

[Mark_vaughn]

Try cleaning up the oil and see if it comes back. I had the same thing and I think it was the PO spilling oil everywhere while adding it. It was a puddle around the spark plugs.

[Mark_vaughn]

Just noticed one more thing in your picture. The bracket going to the pass side of the engine was used for the emission equipment. So the belt cover was also built to cover that as well, which looks funny when there is nothing there. Mine is that way. It is obvious that something is missing with that cover sticking out on the side with nothing in it.

[mbouse]

yup, there has been some removal of emissions equipment. you can see on the intake cam cover where the egr valve was, and that bracket hanging out in the wind was from a air pump i'll bet.

strip the bracket off the engine. it will look better without it. and then it won't get in the way in the future.

get an appropriate year replacement timing belt cover. put and keep it on.

the oil could be coming from loose cam covers. tighten those allen head bolts at the top of the covers.

the oil could be coming from spills when new oil was added. mop it up and see if it comes back.

or the oil fill cap could be missing its gasket.

[Mark_vaughn]

This is my engine, notice the belt cover. Yours is a very similar setup, if not exactly the same. I have thought about trying to find an earlier belt cover and cutting the bracket off to make it look nicer. I am not sure about the fit though.

[mbouse]

be careful as you attempt to interchange the timing belt cover.

like many other model year and engine changes, the timing covers were reshaped to accomodate different accessories and different engine configurations. Some have timing marks on them.

my 80 shows its timing marks on the passenger side, and with a special bracket - not on the belt cover.

my 78 shows its timing marks ON the belt cover on the driver's side of the engine

my 80 had a air pump mounted as low as it could go on the bottom of the crankcase. the mounts did not interfere with the belt cover design

the vehicles you show in these pictures clearly have a mounting bracket for the air pump that must be allowed for in the belt cover design.

simple part - not necessarily simple swaps between vehicles.

[So Cal Mark]

if you use an earlier or later belt cover (without the air pump lump), you'll also need the bracket that bolts to the top of the water outlet to attach the belt cover. Those 75-76 belt covers used different attaching points

[KensSpider]

WOW! Thanks so very much for the help. I have a bunch of things to look at this weekend when the weather turns a bit nicer (rainy right now!!).

The oil I mentioned is right around the spark plugs. I noticed it when I changed them out. The dipstick shows nice & full. However, as I mentioned before the "OLIO" indicator reads quite low once the oil has warmed up, causing me a bit of concern. I think I'll look around for a sending unit and give that a try.

Cheers!!

Ken

[mdrburchette]

The sender does get lazy after a while. I would be more concerned if the oil light came on. I thought I'd mention not to tighten the cambox covers too tight. They are meant to be finger tightened or a little tighter.