oil on water pump belt mean leak at valve cover gaskets or somewhere else?

[mazpro00]

if there is oil on my water pump belt does that mean my valve cover gaskets are leaking or is there somewhere on the top of the engine where oil can leak on the water pump belt i know my engine oil is leaking

 

[mazpro00]

car is protege 1.6l 2000

 

[Brains]

Around where the valve cover goes over the came shafts near the cam gears (which is like right above the belts/water pump) is a common place for oil to leak out from under the valve cover. When you replace the valve cover gasket, you're supposed to put some sealant where the two camshaft covers (i'm not sure what they're really called though...) meet the head... for lack of a better description. If you take the valve cover off you'll see what i'm talking about, there's probably already some beads of sealant in that area that's failed by now.

If the 1.6 has a timing belt cover that's anything like the cover on the 2.0, then it's probably broken where it bolts to the engine/head somewhere and oil is getting out from the timing belt area onto your other belts... not that there should be oil in the timing belt area, either. That's what happened to me eh, so maybe you've got the same problem.

 

[thuzil]

Could also be the front oil seal or oil dipstick tube oring.

Oil from the valve cover would hit the timing belt first. It would have to travel a long way to get onto the water pump belt from the valve cover. But you never know!