starbuck

I've got two oil leaks and wondered if anyone else has experinced these. First one is at the front of the engine from the cover (looks like timing chain cover?) and the other is underneath where the tranny meets the engine and also on the plastic inspection cover for the trans.
These are small leaks but it's going in tomorrow to the dealer and I wondered if it's common...

Thanks
Paul

gunsmoker

What's your mileage and what's the oil level indicator showing?
Mine has 2300 miles on it and the oil indicator dropped 2 steps from the max in the last 200 miles. I looked for leaks, but I didn't see any. Tomorrow I'll check the locations you mentioned. About the second one, can you see that from the top or you need to lift the car? Not sure where that inspection cover is...

starbuck

I've got 13K miles on it and the oil level is about halfway. I had to get under it to see the 2nd leak, I was checking the suspension for the clunk I have when backing and noticed the oil drips. The X shaped crossmember is coated with oil- so it's been a slow leak for a while. I checked all over the engine to see if it might have just been spillage when they did the 5K service.
The inspection cover is on the left side of the tranny- I couldn't see anthing coming from the tranny when I opened the cover and these drips definitely look like motor oil...

Paul

Blake P

I noticed some oil residue just to the left side of my engine cover and mentioned it during my 55k service. The tech noted "cam cover gasket seepage" (or something along those lines) with a $425 estimate to fix it. For now I'm just keeping an eye on my oil level and visually inspecting to see how much seepage there is before throwing money at it. Sounds like others are noticing signs of seepage at just 20k miles in the same location. I'd post a pic, but I'm on my iPhone right now.

starbuck

Mine went in the shop Wed, timing chain cover gasket (which they had) and engine rear main seal- tranny had to come out for that one and the part is coming from NJ, it's already 2 days late due to the snow storms.
Makes me nervous to think a less than 1 year old car with 13K already needs a main seal...

Paul

Blake P

Damn, true. Were you noticing abnormal oil consumption?

starbuck

Nothing abnormal- 1 quart in between oil changes.

quattrovant

Oil usage between every oil change I can live with but oil seepage from gasket areas is really pushing my tolerance level.

jfo

A rear main seal on a new car is indeed unusual but I wouldn't get too nervous about it. The failure rate on that part would likely be very low, but a very small defect in the seal could slip through the suppliers QA. It would likely have nothing to do with the rest of your vehicle or the engine design, etc.

Oil leaks to me are never acceptable though, and should never occur on a reasonably new engine, including Blake's at 55K.
There is no such thing as "normal" seepage or leaking, unlike oil consumption.