Hello, my 2.0l Nubira engine is leaking oil from somewhere other than the drainplug. If I recall correctly, someone had a similar problem caused by the assembly that the oil filter screws onto. Perhaps it is the oil pump? The car has 89,000+ miles on it. It's a rather slow leak, but most of the underside of the engine bay is coated.
As long as I keep an eye on the oil level and oil light, I should be OK to drive for a while, right? I'm hoping this is an annoyance rather than something mission critical like the timing belt and tensioner. I'll appreciate the advice.
first you got to see the leaking point, that will require a good engine and engine bay cleanup then watching the engine and engine bay for a few consecutive days to see where the leak started.
currently you won't be able to do much as the area is covered by oil and you can't tell where is it starting from so a cleanup and watching is the standard procedure here.
and if you keep a good eye on the oil level and oil lamp you should be OK... but you are losing oil and their for money.
as for the timing belt and tensioner... they got nothing to do with oil leaks whatsoever.
A mechanic looked at the oil pan gasket and says that it is leaking. I'd like to know more about my options before spending $80 on a new one.
The engine does not -seem- to leak oil when not running. When driving, oil is sprayed everywhere. I'm wondering if this is normal for a bad gasket, or the leaking is being caused by too much crankcase pressure. I don't want this possibility to ruin a new gasket (or different one). I've read a little about PCV valves. (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) Could this be causing the problem? Is it possible to find and clean?
If it's simply a bad gasket, I'm tempted to strip the old gasket off of the metal it's attached to (the baffle parts) and using some high quality sealant (can anyone recommend a certain type?) to stick it and the oil pan onto the block. Do I have to use the metal part? I think it might be a bad idea, but one possibility is to simply put sealant around the outside of the current gasket. I'm worried that it would deteriorate and parts of it will ruin the engine.
This is my first car (I've had it for 2.5 years now), so I'm still learning the mechanic side of things. What action have you taken with your gasket?
I personally would recomend getting a new gasket, but if u want you can also clean up the windage plate and everything adn then coat it with some black silicone. you would want to run a bead, meaning you wouldn't want to flaten it out or rub it on as you want it to creat a gasket when it is pressed. also you should check the from main seal which is an oil seal locate behind the cran pully, mine right now is leaking, but i am building a complete engine out side of the car so right now my daewoo has been parked for like a week. but yeah, what you would do is get some degreaser and clean the undercarrage of the car, becuase most of that stuff underthere is oil and dirt, so once it is clean, then put the car up on jack stands or if u havce access to a hydraulic lift, put it up and have the car running and see where the oil is coming from.hope this helps.
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I replaced the oil pan gasket ($30 on eBay) and that wasn't the problem. The oil is being sprayed from the front main seal (as was suggested here).
I'd appreciate more information. Will the gasket suddenly fail while driving and spill all of the oil? How difficult/expensive is it to replace? How much longer should it last? (half a quart low, ~1-2k miles) What could have caused the problem other than normal wear? Is this a common problem with these engines? Thank you all for helping me!
"front main seal" as in crank shaft oil seal?? if that is the case then i don't think it is a too hard job to do... you need to remove all the pullies on the shaft though to get to the oil seal.
as for sudden failure... i don't think it will be dangerous as far as sudden failure is concerned, the thing will get more and more coroded and the oil leak will gradually be worse and worse but i don't think it will totally fail just like that.
maybe if you ignored its replacment for an additonal 20k miles or so and the thing decided to give away but by then you will have to fill the car with oil as much as you do gas to compansate for the oil leak... i recommend you do the replacment as fast as possible though.
this is not a common thing with those engines... only thing common are cam position sensors and thermostate housing... at least on the 1.6 DOHC engines.
If I recall correctly, someone had a similar problem caused by the assembly that the oil filter screws onto. Perhaps it is the oil pump? The car has 89,000+ miles on it. It's a rather slow leak, but most of the underside of the engine bay is coated.