I have an oil leak somewhere. It doesn't leave any drops on the carboard I put under the car, so I just don't know where to look. Can anyone help?
Thanks, Beth

 

i got the same problem

 

How often do you have to put oil in the car and how low is it ?
Maybe your burning if off , some cars burn oil faster than others .

I like the way you spelled oil ,iol , it looks like it would be a different language . Im just pokin fun at ya

 

I change my oil , and my parent's . I know once in awhile when Im too busy to do it , and I have a shop change it and they put a different brand of oil in it , the car will burn oil for months after that . My Grandfather was a mechanic for years and owned his own shop . He told me a few times ," its always good to keep using the same kind of oil because alot of times , when I see cars switch they start burning oil " .

Alot of new WS6 ramair t/a's and SS camaros burn oil when you drive them off the lot , and Im talking the owners have to put a quart of oil in them every 2000 miles !!!!

I have that problem though in my ss , every 2k miles Im adding a quart ! Wait , no I have an Rs , not an ss

 

WayneRS you are funny!!!
Well I am putting a quart(at least)every couple days. I reckon that's why it knocks sometimes. I know it didn't knock for a few days after I had the oil changed last time. I changed the oil sending unit about 3mo ago. What kind of oil should I use in it, considering it has 200,000 hard driven miles on it?
Thanks Beth

 

lol ..thanx

Gosh , you do need to get that fixed , thats not normal . That's strange that your putting that cardboard out and you dont see where its coming from , hmmm . Is it smoking , like from the tailpipes ? TomP , Ked85 or 1991tealrst-top guy should be able to answer these question , they are very good with cars . They should also be able to give you a good high mileage oil . I know I use valvoline oil , and they do make a high mileage oil for cars with over 75,000 miles on it . What do you think about that oil guys ? THE MOST INPORTANT THING , if you wanna get even more miles out of this engine is to keep changing that oil ever 3000 miles .

 

There are four area where these 60 degree v-6's love to leak.

1. valve covers
2. Distributor O-ring - Pack of five from Pep boys runs about $2
3. Oil pan gasket -- Don't use a rubber replacement -- they are very poorly made and don't match up
4. Rear main seal -- The hardest to change but possible leak after 200K miles.

 

I agree with you Mdv6man but HOWEVER , if one of these areaus were leaking , shouldnt she be seeing it dripping on the cardboard or the ground uderneath the car ?

 

Does it give a puff of blue smoke on startup? If so, it's probably the valve stem seals. If it smokes constantly while driving (check the ends of the exhaust pipes for tons of slimy oil deposits), the rings are bad. You could also 'read the spark plugs' and look for oil deposits.

Other than that, I suppose it could be a head gasket. Is there oil in the coolant (in the radiator)?

 

200,000 miles...............could be a combination of things: leaking/burning.............it sounds pretty serious....................could be time for a new engine soon, i'd recomend a brand new engine over a rebuild............before i started working on cars, i had a few things "professionally" rebuilt for several thousand dollars.....they didnt last more than a year...........figure a brand new engine is about $1700.........you have to look at it this way though........you probably wont have headaches for a LONG time

if its leaking from some place simple, say the distrib o-ring, have it done

if its leaking from the Rear main, just start saving for a new motor because theres no use putting a $100 saddle on a $10 horse, if you understand what i am saying

 

Hi. Thanks for all the help; I'll start wiping off the engine and see if I can spot anything. I crawled under the rearend tonight and well, seems I lost a tailpipe somewhere! It's black as coal but wipes off easily. I have always had a bit of smoke at startup and I don't think that is any worse.
Having to replace an engine is terrible, but not having my camaro is definately worse. I will have to find a reputible place to have it looked at. My car does need alot of work but it's paid for and I really love to drive it.
Thanks again, Beth

 

Not necessarily... Sometimes the sealing surfaces are not up to snuff and oil will seep past the gaskets when the engine has built up pressure. Case in point, my 83 uses some oil between oil changes. There is no blue smoke at any time but the oil pan and chassis is coated with a light film of oil. I know there is a leak somewhere but I never have any drops on the ground.

 

I learn something new everytime I'm in here .

 

Hi,
I put more oil in the car today. Well, I noticed that the oil pressure guage shows about 70 (psi?) but it needs oil???? I thought that the guage showed when the car needs oil and should have gone towards the empty mark.
Beth

 

GM gauges are not the most accurate measurement after years of use/abuse.

 

MDv6man said exactly what happened to me. I had a bad oil leak in my 1992 Firebird. It would not drip in any one place consistently, but I would have to put in a quart about every 3 or 4 days. It was the O-ring around the distributor. It would never leak when idling or just putting around, but it would leak terribly going down the road, and the air moving around the car blew it all over the place. It was very hard to figure that out.

Gauges measure the pressure of the oil working in the engine, not the amount or volume of oil in the engine. They will begin to read lower when you have low oil and the oil is getting hotter and thus thinner from not having any time to sit in the pan and cool, but it usually has to be a couple of quarts low or more to start seeing the pressure dropping on the gauge. That is my experience anyway.

 

Hi,
Is the distributer O ring under the distrubuter? I ordered a book but haven't received it yet; this Haynes is soooooooo wrong!
Beth

 

This is no point in replacing a rear main seal, the reason that a rear main seal leaks is miles do to main bearings wearing down and letting the crank wear the seal. The best thing to do is get a new 3.4L "long block" and put all your crap on it, stick it back in and drive another 200,000 LOL.

 

Hi, sorry but I have no idea what you said in your message. My knowledge is Very limited. Thank you for trying to help.
Beth

 

The O-ring is attatched to the end of the distributor. It will look like a black ring after you remove the distributor.

What Ryan was saying is if the rear main seal is leaking, there is really no point in replacing the seal. The engine is past its prime. He is suggesting that you upgrade to a 3.4 V-6 (originally came in 1993-1995 Camaros) and put that in.

 

I don't think that replacing a rear main seal is a waste of time. Sometimes the rubber gets hard from just the amount of time the seal has been in use, and it will no longer do it's job properly. I agree that it is a lot of trouble to do and may not be worth it on a motor that has 200K+ miles, but I have seen cars with a leaking one that only had about 100K miles on them. The car was several years old, and the seal had hardened up and was no longer effective. I'd have to evaluate how good the engine ran and then see if I wanted to fool with it. Also, the 1 piece rear mains are a lot easier to change than the older 2 piece design. That's my opinion on that.

One other suggestion... have you checked your filter? My dad had a bad leak in his Sonoma 2.8 one time, and we finally figured out that the oil filter had a bad spot on it and it would weep while the engine was running. Just another suggestion.

 

Funny; what's wrong about the Haynes? I haven't found anything wrong in it yet, and I also have the GM manual. Like MDv6 said, it's on the distributor housing's shaft. It won't feel like an o-ring at all, if it's the original, it'll feel like hard plastic. It will be between two machined flats on the distributor shaft, and instead of being curved like a ring at the edges, it'll be squared off because it's been flattened and cooked and dryed out.

 

Hi,
Now I know where it is! I had to have the distributor replaced about 50000 miles ago. when they pulled it it looked as though it had been dipped in resin.
I thought of trying the cardboard under the car again this weekend, put it thru the gears and see if anything shows up.
With the Haynes I have to refer to the insert in the back to find info related to my car and then it's lacking in quanity of info. It doesn't have enough pics, diagrams, schematics either. Well that my opinion, I am glad you find it ok.
Thanks,
Beth

 

i agree 100%

you can spend $500+ now and have the seal replaced, only to drive the car a week and blow a rod

that motors a time bomb waiting to blow........................

(but hey, so is mine)

 

When I took my car in and it was knocking , I think it was a rod , dont remember , anyway ; the mechanic told me " I can fix your car for " I think he said $750 but that motor is not in good shape . You may blow it next week . I can either band aide your motor and you can drive it more and chance it or you can go ahead and get a new motor . I went ahead and got a new motor .