AgentofChaos

Hi, I've posted here before, but I have a question.

I bought a project 92 firebird earlier this year. I'm not much a mechanic, but I love the car and I've been trying to do little things here and there in hopes that one day I can get it in pristine condition.


Since I've purchased my bird I've replaced the water pump, the valves cover gaskets, and the oil pan gasket (with some help of course).

Unfortunately, the car still leaks oil from the rear main seal. I lack the necessary tools or funds to repair it right now (just had my first child).

I drive it to work daily and refill it back up with oil when needed. Lately the leak seems to have been getting progressively worse.

However when I check my oil the dipstick reads over the "full" marker, and then a thin stream of oil runs up the stick even further. After doing a little research I feared that I might have a blown head gasket.

My oil isn't muddy though, my coolant looks clean, and there's no grey residue on any of my caps.

I'm wondering if I'm simply being paranoid, but when I pop open my oil filler cap and look inside it looks damn near empty? Is this normal? Also it looks like there's fresh oil on top of the valve covers below the intake.

I never did clean my engine thoroughly (that might be good idea) and I'm thinking that maybe due to the increased humidity lately that the residue oil from before has just become moist?

Could anyone clarify these issues for me? Maybe I'm being paranoid, I really don't want to take another step back.

seibertjd

This may sound like a stupid question, but what is your procedure for checking the oil? Is your car parked on level ground when you check it? Did you warm it up first, or did you check it cold? Usually a bad head gasket would produce much worse symptoms than a line of oil on the dipstick...

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Probably not the rear main seal.

They hardly ever leak significantly in the setup your car has.

More likely it's the valve cover gaskets, the rear intake mainfold "China wall" gasket, or the oil pressure sending unit.

Yes it is completely normal, PREFERRED in fact, for there to be no visible oil under the oil cap.

Don't overfill your crankcase. Put oil in until it reaches "full" on the stick, and no more.

I'd suggest a trip to the quarter car wash. Clean the funk of 10,000 years off of the motor so you can actually SEE it, and inspect CLOSELY to find where it's leaking. Remember, it drips off of the BOTTOM, after running down from wherever it started, even if that was the very TOP of the motor. So don't automatically "assume" it's the rear main seal leaking, because it probably isn't. FIND IT, not "assume" anything.