I have a big oil leak out of my 350 Chevy and I see its coming from the timing seal in the timing cover where the harmonic balancer goes on. The engine doesn't even have 3,000 miles on it and I have a old Mr Gasket 2 piece timing cover and I just put a brand new damper dudes harmonic balancer on it and a new seal. And I know its coming from that seal and not around the cover because I can see the oil is slung from the balancer around the timing cover and the front of the motor. I loose about a quart of oil a week and I need this fixed.
But I'm afraid if I just get a new timing cover and seal that its going to leak again. Does anybody know whats wrong? Would a repair sleeve help? Does anybody think a new aluminum timing cover would fix it? Even though that really has nothing to do with the seal except that the seal goes in the cover. Maybe oil is leaking between the seal and cover? I don't know. Any Help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot

Ryan Washington
www.RyansCustoms.com (http://www.RyansCustoms.com)

Ryan,
You are going to have to take it apart and see what is really happening. It is possible that you messed the seal up while installing the damper. I have seen the spring come out of them before. You have to lubricate the seal and the damper real good. You should not need a repair sleeve if the "Dudes" did thier job correctly. Before you put it back together, try the damper in the seal sitting on the bench and see how it fits. It should be a little tight.
Hope this helps,

Are you sure it is the timing cover seal, there are two bolt holes in the front of the engine on the passenger side and one of them needs a bolt in it, I believe it is the upper one, it goes into the fuel pump rod cavity and if the bolt is missing or loose, it will leak.