I am up at school right now and it was a nice day out so i figured id take the car out for a spin. About 15 minutes into my drive I noticed my oil pressure was getting way lower than usual. I pulled over and realized that the oil was coming out and fast. I ran to the gas station, put another quart in and took it the extra 1-2 miles back to campus. from going 5-10 mph to my parking space, the drops of oil are probably an inch apart from each other. i left the car running for like 15-25 seconds after i parked and a puddle came together in just that short time. when i had it parked and ran to the gas station, it seemed to have stopped before i made it back to the car, it was barely dripping by then. so maybe its only when its running. seems to be near the back of the motor too as the oil was dripping down the tranny pan. anyways, my friend said it seemed too quick of a leak to be a RMS. is that true? also, where should i look. I havent changed oil and filter since before winter since I dont really drive it much at all, and barely touched it during the winter. any help is appreciated. i dunno if i can get my hands on a jack either while im out here. any places i should check first? should i let it run and then check for the leak? thanks a lot.

 

If it was the back of the motor I would take a look around the filter and oil pressure sender.

 

i figured maybe the seal to the filter broke since its been a while. the temp has been up and down here every week. 20s a week ago, 81 today. so maybe that had to do with it too. im not positive if its comin from the back, but thats where its dripping from.

 

Your car is jacked up enough as is, get ur skinny *** under there with flashlight lol. It should be pretty obvious if its thats bad of a leak. Ive had my RMS leak as well as the oil filter gasket...if the car is empty just replace it while your up there. Not sure what else to tell you. Oil pressure sender has been said. Dipstick tube pop out? Who knows.

 

car isnt jacked up anymore. new rims. but anyways, im gonna get under it tomorrow and check it out. my buddy is going home this weekend and he said hell bring up a jack and jackstands if i still need em. was the rms leak slow? what about the filter gasket leak? ill check it out tomorrow but i might not know what im looking at when i find it.

 

yes both were slow. Sorry about the jacked up part i did forget about the new wheels. Got a camera?

 

to take pics under the car? if youre talking about pics of the car go to my cardomain, its updated.

 

To take pics of the oil leak. Also do you still have the cover over your flexplate and torque converter. There are holes in the bottom of it so if oil is coming of there it would probably be the RMS. Im not sure if its possible for those things to rip or come out completely id imagine so.

 

yea i have the tc cover on there. it might be coming out of there because the oil was all over the trans pan i hate this car, im so unlucky with it.

 

Wipe it clean and look for the leak. Do you have a PCV valve setup?

 

how could i tell im an idiot, ive been so busy learning about my trans.

 

If you have a pcv setup? Came with the car did you remove it? Should have pcv on the drivers side valve cover and some type of breather on the passenger side valve cover. If its not setup correctly all the vapor that is floating around in the crank case will push itself out someway.

 

If you have breathers on your headers like I did in my old motor on my sig then you don't. If there is a hose coming out of one of them then you do. Is the ZZ4 a carbed motor?
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My thoughts exactly, and the path of least resistance is the intake gasket or valve cover gaskets. I've seen it happen before and it was consistent with what he described. Probably a long shot though.

 

its actually a zz1 motor. pretty similar though, heres a pic.

that little thing poking out of the valve cover passenger side, i hooked up to where the smog pump thing was. my friend said positive crank case ventilation or something. right next to the dipstick. and exiting, not coming from the pump on the front of the motor.

 

I know its been said, but I'm saying it again....check the oil pressure sending unit. Find it, crank the car, and see if oil is dripping from it!!!! If you don't know what to look for then go to a parts store, ask for one for your car and then find that part on you block...usually near the oil filter.

 

I actually just check ur cardomain. I cant tell where any of them go with your pictures. I mean your passenger one looks like it runs into a coolant heater hose? Driver side i cant tell.

Well you have me confused thats for sure. The metal line by ur header is for your air tubes for the converter. Do you still have the smog pump do you still have the AIR system?

 

the rubber tube that runs to the cat.

 

i looked at it today a little bit. i think it might be near the sending unit. its like a little connector or something under the sending unit. its the first thing that is connected to the tube out of the rear of the manifold. under the drivers side of the distributor cap.

o and did i mention that the oil pressure gauge was fluctuating like crazy.

 

Thats consistent with the sending unit having an issue. Check it out.

 

The name of that piece is "oil pressure sending unit".

Note that your gauge is fubar too. See my signature for helpful troubleshooting advice when dealing with a "multiple symptom" situation.

 

actually it looks like a fitting that goes to the oil pressure sending unit, but i guess its not as bad as it could have been right? thanks a lot guys.

 

I recently had the same problem with my 85 IROC. The thing I first noticed was 0 oil pressure when I was at idle. It has had a small leak somewhere that would just leave like a drop or two when I shut it off. However, after the 0 oil pressure reading I noticed that there was now a pool of oil under my car. I had to watch the area around my oil pressure sending unit to actually catch the leak. It was coming out around the seal for the electrical connection. Replaced the OPSU and now there's no leak and normal oil pressure.

 

yea i think my leak is also at the electrical connection. it comes right out of the back of the manifold. one goes straight through to the sending unti but theres an electrical connection that goes down towards the firewall, right? and youre saying you replaced just the sending unit and problem solved? ill have to try it this weekend.

 

Observe vehicle. Note part from which oil escapes. Replace.

Take it off and carry it to the parts store and match it up if you don't know its name.

Pretty straightforward repair.

 

I'm confused too. If you don't have a vacuum source connected to your crankcase it could be an underlying cause of your leak. From what I read it sounds like he's pumping AIR into the crankcase?

 

no, im taking the output of the AIR setup and hooked it to the valve cover. it is releasing it from the crankcase out to the cat (no longer hooked up to the cat so just dumps it out under the car). im gonna remove that whole setup probably over summer and get a breather for the valve cover. im gonna replace the OPSU this weekend. I might have to get it to the dealership because im stranded up at school, so I have no tools or anything to work on it.

 

Shouldn't need more than a set of wrenches to replace the OPSU. It's only attached with one fitting. Check it out and hopefully you can get to yours without having to remove much, maybe just the distributor-which is another open end wrench. Purchasing a second set of wrenches would still be cheaper than paying someone else...

One valve cover should be connected through a PCV valve to a vacuum source. This pulls the crankcase vapors out of the case and burns them in the engine. The opposite valve cover breather provides a source of clean air back into the crankcase to replace what is removed. You can run it without the PCV and just breathers (and many do) but for a daily driver type I'd recommend the PCV.

 

Undo that. That's SERIOUSLY wrong.

You have the AIR system pumping air INTO the valve cover, instead of taking it OUT.

Put a PCV valve back into it on one side, like it belongs; and hook the other side up to a source of clean, filtered air.

 

I was trying to say the same thing, just a little more diplomatically.

 

alright, my buddy who builds cars all the time did it for me. maybe im not explaining it right, but i trusted him since he built his own high 8 second camaro. o well.

 

I replaced the OPSU with AC Delco part number D1829, at a cost of 27.99 and that completely resolved my problem.