hi fellas, i got an 88 firebird 2.8 v6, and it has a bit of an oil leak. not major, but a very small drip of oil every few minutes. its coming from like the end of the engine, and ive been told to change the distributor o ring gasket. should i take that approach and do that? will that fix my problem? any help is greatly appreciated.

 

You can usually feel around near the distributors base and see if there's oil back there those o-rings are cheap hopefully that's your issue. There's two other possibilities. One is the Camshaft cover which is on the back side of the block and is a common place for leaking and the other would be the rear main seal. Both of these however, require removal of the transmission and flex plate to replace.

 

rear main tends to be the main culprit

 

Is that why its called the rear main?
And yeah, it would be one of those 3 things. Assuming you mean the rear of the engine, kind of helps if you specify which end...if its at the front, it could be the TC or crank snout seal.

 

Intake gasket end seals (rtv) are a known problem. You have to replace the valve cover gaskets when you do the intake & pull the dist. to change the o ring. Add a dist. base gasket from a small block chevy to your dist. to seal it really good.

 

Okay. I dont need to remove the engine or tranny right?

 

To do the intake , no.
To do the rear main, yes the tranny has to come out.
You need to determine where the leak is coming from. Get a light & a mirror & start looking at the top, front & back.

 

Yeah, he kind of does or he might waste time/money replacing things he doesn't need to, but if its coming from the front or back its probably not the intake gaskets.

 

Thats why I said use a mirror & flash light, I don't believe in doing things that are ok. Make sure what is leaking first then buy the parts.
I don't know what "end of engine" means. Most guys say rear as in flywheel side.

 

I think the rear main is leaking on mine. It leaks down and drips off of the oil drain plug and that area.