oil leak, rear main seal or no?
#1
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Jeez fix one problem and another pops up. Anyways I noticed two small nickel sized puddles under my car. At first I thought it was one of our other vehicles so I cleaned it up and their it was again the next day. At that time I knew it was my car, so I took it for a ride (about twenty minutes) and came back and nothing; Not a drip or anything. I come back out the next morning and their is those two nickel sized puddles, left right underneath where the tranny and engine mate together. They are on the starters side, but even after jacking the car up I could not really tell. I pulled the starter and plate (obviously) and felt my hand their, and their was oil, but not like I would expect from a rear main. The sides were dry and I did not feel any oil leaking around the VC's or oil sending unit.
#2
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ur rear main could be leaking onto ur fly wheel and it drips from their hence u won't see any on the block or pan.
Make sure the drip is oil, I have seen trans fluid so bad it looks like motor oil. Smell it, if u don't know what burnt trans fluid smells like don't worry, u'll know, it's a horrid smell.
If it's ur rear main, which is more than likely, there's a trick i learned from an oldschool mechanic that works wonders and is not only safe for the motor, it cleans it up. If ur using SAE oil throw a quart of Royal Purple Synthetic, or any synthetic oil that is safe to mix (Mobil 1 & Royal Purple Synthetic are the only ones I can remember right now), it helps keep seals fresh and will seal up leaky ones. If u run synthetic oil and are lucky enough to be using one of the ones that are ok to mix, throw a quart of SAE.
If that fixes the problem than just keep doing the same on every oil change, I've been doing the same for over a yr now and my rear main hasn't leaked since.
Make sure the drip is oil, I have seen trans fluid so bad it looks like motor oil. Smell it, if u don't know what burnt trans fluid smells like don't worry, u'll know, it's a horrid smell.
If it's ur rear main, which is more than likely, there's a trick i learned from an oldschool mechanic that works wonders and is not only safe for the motor, it cleans it up. If ur using SAE oil throw a quart of Royal Purple Synthetic, or any synthetic oil that is safe to mix (Mobil 1 & Royal Purple Synthetic are the only ones I can remember right now), it helps keep seals fresh and will seal up leaky ones. If u run synthetic oil and are lucky enough to be using one of the ones that are ok to mix, throw a quart of SAE.
If that fixes the problem than just keep doing the same on every oil change, I've been doing the same for over a yr now and my rear main hasn't leaked since.
#3
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i don't know if you have auto or manual. If manual, you haven't bled the clutch recently? That fluid tends to drip from the bottom of the bellhousing AND around the starter (I guess due to the flywheel spinning).
My car was leaking, too. My clutch would slip a little during full-throttle shifts into 2nd and 3rd. I've driven it like that for about a year. Well, last weekend I got some help from my brother and decided to drop the tranny because I suspected a leaking rear main seal.
After cleaning up the back of the motor, I could definitely see the rear main had a slow seeping around the lip (I could see the oil begin to pool at the bottom of the seal). So, I got a new rear seal from dealer and installed it. I noticed some oil also some of the oil pan bolts, too. So i decided to drop the oil pan and change that gasket too. It took longer, but no oil leaks so far in the 3 days it's been put back together.
Dropping the oil pan is a drag, but my car has 130K miles and I feel it was worth it.
My car was leaking, too. My clutch would slip a little during full-throttle shifts into 2nd and 3rd. I've driven it like that for about a year. Well, last weekend I got some help from my brother and decided to drop the tranny because I suspected a leaking rear main seal.
After cleaning up the back of the motor, I could definitely see the rear main had a slow seeping around the lip (I could see the oil begin to pool at the bottom of the seal). So, I got a new rear seal from dealer and installed it. I noticed some oil also some of the oil pan bolts, too. So i decided to drop the oil pan and change that gasket too. It took longer, but no oil leaks so far in the 3 days it's been put back together.
Dropping the oil pan is a drag, but my car has 130K miles and I feel it was worth it.