Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair Stack Exchange
Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [oil-leak]

Questions about identifying, locating and repairing oil leaks from an engine, gearbox or differential

211 questions
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Do I have an oil leak if I have to add oil?

I don't change the oil all that often (maybe every 8000 miles) and on my 10 year old car the oil light comes on and I need to add a quart or two (and then I start thinking I practically changed the oil and don't need to worry for another few…
tooshel
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Will having a radiator full of engine oil do damage to the motor?

I've got one question; I was looking over this car that I was going to buy and there was engine oil in the radiator. I asked the guys why it was in there and he said he didn't have enough coolant to fill it so he used engine oil. He topped up the…
Mark
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I ran my car on almost no oil for a few weeks before realizing the problem. Now what?

So let me preface this by saying that I follow all of the manufacturer's suggested maintenance and religiously get my oil changed every 5K miles. However, my 2007 Mazdaspeed6 is about due for its 120k mile service, and for the last few weeks I've…
Nick
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5 answers

Oil burning smell and slow oil leak

I am wondering what types of issues I am most likely looking at with this; My 2003 Ford Escape (V6) has an increasingly pronounced burnt oil smell that has developed slowly over a year or so, coupled with a slow leak of oil. Lately, we can notice a…
Andrew Barber
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Why would there be transmission fluid in the water overflow reservoir?

The car is a '98 Buick Lesabre with the 3800 engine and about 170k miles. It appears as though some oil was in the radiator, but I haven't seen any signs of coolant in the oil. The water pump recently went bad, so I'm not sure how much oil was in…
wickedpissah
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3 answers

Why is oil on my throttle body hose?

I've been tracking down a number of low grade oil smells in the car lately (2004 Subaru WRX). So far, that has included replacing the left front axle (was losing all kinds of grease through the boot), replacing a power steering hose that had a tiny…
Bob Cross
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Can leaky cylinder explain oil loss to burning?

One out of the 6 of my Toyota Tacoma cylinders is mildly leaking, as indicated by a cylinder leakdown test. While other cylinders are leaking only something like 5-10%, this one leaks about 20% of the pressure that goes in while the cylinder is in…
amphibient
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4 answers

2004 Subaru Forester black smoke oil not accelerating

I was driving my car on I - 70 and all of a sudden the oil light was flicking on and off the check engine light had been on already but the car started to lose speed and no rpms showed while I tryed to pull over by speeding up I heard a light noise…
Elaine Fraym
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How can you tell the difference between oil or transmission fluid in the antifreeze?

I am in the process of repairing my 1997 Toyota 4-runner with a v-6 engine. I have only had the vehicle for a couple of days. I was doing a routine maintenance check on all the fluids. What I found was the antifreeze to be white in color with a…
Travis Lewis
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3 answers

Switching engine coolant with similar properties oil

I was wondering why specific coolants or distilled water is used as a heat transfer liquid for engine cooling instead of just using a separate oil circuit with some type of oil as a heat transfer liquid. Cost issues aside I guess there is (could be…
kokobill
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How does low oil level cause misfires or VTEC malfunctions?

So a few days ago my 2003 Honda Civic EX started misfiring while accelerating, especially with the A/C turned on, making popping noises, and then yesterday got a P1259 "VTEC system malfunction code". Web forums said to check the oil level, so I did…
endolith
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Cylinder leak down test to detect oil leakage

My 2007 Tacoma loses about 3.5 qt of oil out of 5 every about 1500 mi. I know it's low because the engine starts periodically rattling, I don't know which part but it's 100% correlated to the low oil level. I know the measure because I drained the…
amphibient
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What do i need to know when replacing a valve cover gasket

I have an oil leak from a cracked valve cover gasket that i want to replace myself. I bought the gasket nearly 6 months ago and i am apprehensive at doing it myself without sort of feed back as to what i should pay attention / be careful about. My…
russjman
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Can a oil leak covering my engine cause a fire or smoke?

My mechanic has recommended that I fix an oil leak in my car. My car is old and really, I rarely drive it so I'm reluctant to spend any money on fixing it unless it's going to cost more later on or if it's going to be dangerous. With the oil leak,…
Diskdrive
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Oil pan threads stripped?

EDIT Helpful links on how threads got stripped and by who: http://tl.acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=878261 Seems to be a common problem with some shops, where they don't take good care. 2004 Ford Taurus SES, DuraTec V6, 115,000 miles Oil…
Greg McNulty
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