once the car is turned off after a few minutes it stops....its dripping from the rear of the motor from what i can tell by the tranny...there is oil on top of the tranny...just started today after installing the new breather, and open element i cant see that causing it...could it be the rear main seal? head gaskets? or just maybe the valve cover gaskets?

 

Sounds bad man . If was a leaky valve cover gasket, oil would be all over the engine, and would probably drip on the exhaust manifolds and burn, which I doubt you'd miss. If it was the head gasket, your car would probably blow white smoke too since you would have coolant leaking into the combustion chamber too. If it is at the rear of the engine and it is not the oil pan gasket ( again I doubt you would miss this ), then its probably the rear main. If your 88' has the original engine, then it should be a 1-piece seal. I'm sorry but I can't help you there, never changed a main. Don't worry, lots of smart people on these boards, somebody will know.

 

Wait... re-read your post. You said that oil is on top of the tranny? Sounds like a valve cover gasket.

 

Best thing to do is to take off your aircleaner and distributor and get a good look at your intake manifold rear seal. If you are getting oil on top of your tranny that would be the first place I'd check before replacing the rear main seal.

 

its leaking back there somewhere...the drips are collecting at the top of the tranny pan...i mean on the ground...didnt look like it lost much last night

 

Another place to check is the gasket between the distributor and intake manifold.

 

sound like anything major? doesnt seem like the car is losing any power or anything....and i was reading the rear main is inside the pan...if thats true then how would the oil come outside of it? also oil goes threw the intake manifold? i didnt know that. that could be where the oils coming from ill have to take a closer look at it when i get the chance.

 

TBI,

Try changing you PCV valve. I had a similar problem when I upgraded my motor. Would drip oil after it ran. Looked like it was coming from the distributor/manifold boss. Replaced the gasket and nothing. Redid the valve covers and intake manifold and still same. Swapped PCV valve, no more leak.

 

im going to be very plain, i just had this same problem, i just recently did major engine work, and had this same problem, only my oil leak was my headgasket, your can still run fine and have a blown gasket, also your intake could be leaking, i also replaced my rearmain, the only thing that makes it a b****h to do is you need to drop the tranny from the car, after that its pretty much cake, check your intake, valve cover gaskets, and look around the head much as possible, if your pressure seems lower then usual, it is your head gasket, this job is easy if you have good mechanical experince, and is cheaper if you can do it yourself, if you take your heads off remember to get them machined at a machine shop "mill them" and get a valve grind done" this way you have proper sealing when you put it back together....hope this helps some


mike

 

pressure seems fine...goes down to around 30 at idle and stuff but its always done that....i think it may be the valve covers since it doesnt seem to leak while running just right after its been shut off...PVC is brand new...could it be because i switched breathers? thats when it started was after i put a clamp on k&n breather on there...i couldnt figure out a way to get it to clamp on so i cut the tube and widened it some and pushed it down inside that...could that be causing to much pressure? also im not loosing any coolant...wouldnt i be loosing coolant if i blew my head gasket...

 

Hell no, you wont allways loose coolant with a bad head gasket.

Since you are saying that you are seeing Oil on the top of the tranny pan and not the bellhousing, check the obvious. The oil filter and drain plug. If you do your own oil changes, be shure the old gasket didnt stay on when you removed the old filter. It happenes all the time. And if you dont do it yourself thats a good reason to double check everything. including that the pan plug is seating properly and sealing.

i know this sounds silly, but you wouldnt think so if you saw the amount of "pan gaskets" or "rear mains" that Ive seen. Several of them turned out to be a plug or filter.

 

those were the first two things i checked...

 

think i got it taken care of...i replaced the drivers side valve cover gasket and it stopped the leaking i think...it dark but i dont see it leaking like it was...the rubber gasket looked fine tho...i replaced it with a rubber fel-pro...now im pretty sure it stopped...what would cause a rubber gasket with no nicks or anything to start leaking...also what is normal oil pressure at idle and as your rpms go up?

 

it was the drivers side valve cover gasket...no more leak and after closer inspection it looks like its had oil all around the back...i think ive had the leak for awhile since there is alot of oil on the tranny but i guess it just now got bad enough...i replaced the gasket and tightened it down real good and so far so good...