Somebody hit my car a couple days ago, and today I just noticed my car is now leaking oil pretty bad. Here is a picture of the damage. I wouldn't think this would cause any kind of oil leak so maybe it is just a coincidence, but the timing is sure odd.

It seems to be leaking on the bottom front of the engine somewhere around the pulleys. Hard to really see since I don't have a lift and can't really see the bottom of the car. Is there any common leak spots I should be aware of? What do you think it could be?

I would take a picture of the oil leak if you think it'd help, but it's really dark outside right now so I'm not sure how well the picture would turn out.

 

Take a pic if u can

 

Can't see the damage or the leak from here, but...

Probably not oil; more likely power steering fluid.

Check the power steering fluid cooler, which looks like a loop of steel tubing going from the power steering gear over to the pass side and back, directly under the radiator.

 

82 Berlinetta probably won't have the power steering cooler.

 

Hi naf ,

I'm wondering why it wouldn't have the cooler . Would it be a model year thing , as in 1982s didn't regularly have them but but by some later year they did , or would it be cause the Berlinetta wasn't the top of the line Camaro model ?

I ask only because my bare bones Firebird with the 2.8 has one , and I was wondering if they put one on a car as cheap as mine was , wouldn't they have naturally put one on the somewhat more expensive Camaro ?

 

Oh yea , I almost forgot ,

If the damage in your photo is the only damage , just the door and rear fender , and the accident didn't push your car up against a curb or something like that , I don't think the hit in the door would have damaged anything in the engine compartment .

I vote for coincidental leak .....

 

Model year thing AFAIK. Neither my 84 Berli or 85 TA have them as an example. I've picked over quite a few over the years and haven't seen them in the earlier lower end models, but find them in most models ~87 up.

 

Ah, I missed the link in the text... sorry about that.

I vote for pure coincidence. No way a scrape on the pass door is going to "cause" an oil leak, or any other fluid for that matter.

The PS cooler seems to have come with some one (or more) of the suspension RPOs, and wasn't limited to only Z28s etc. The popularity of the packages that included it seems to have changed quite a bit in different years. I've seen it in junkyards on some cars that left me scratching my head. I wouldn't ever automatically assume that some car does, or doesn't, have it, without looking. But after looking at the pic I kinda doubt it's an issue here.