Timecodes:
0:26 - why oil leaks happen?
3:50 - how to find an oil leak
Common oil leak sources
7:47 - Rear main seal
9:28 - Valve cover gasket
10:30 - Oil pan gasket
12:03 - Oil leak after oil change
13:09 - Timing cover gasket
14:26 - Can I drive with an oil leak
16:59 - What happened to my engine

So my engine developed a sudden oil leak and I decided that it's a great opportunity to make a little car novice oriented video that covers everything about how to find and fix an oil leak on your car. We're also going to cover the most common oil leak sources on a car (rear main seal, valve cover gasket, oil pan gasket, oil leak after oil change, timing cover gasket, etc.) and we are going to talk about whether it's safe to drive with an oil leak?

So first thing's first, why do oil leaks even happen? Well, your engine is made of many different parts and it needs oil run. Otherwise it would fail. To keep the oil inside the engine all those different parts have seals and gaskets between them. These gaskets and seals, eventually fail, just like anything else, and oil leaks past them onto the road surface below your engine. In order to stop the engine leak you need to replace the faulty seal or gasket. If you are tempted to use one of those "magic" oil stop leak things that come in a bottle, please don't. That's not a proper way to fix an oil leak. They can harm your engine and cause leaks in other places and are only a temporary fix.

How do you find an oil leak? Well there's a little trick that I like to use to make sure that an engine is actually leaking oil and not just burning oil. The trick is to get a big piece of cardboard and put it under your engine and let your engine run. You then look for oil drops on the cardboard. This can not only confirm whether you have an oil leak or not but it can also help you determine the location of an oil leak on your engine.

Once you have a suspected oil leak area, clean that area well, use a good light source and pinpoint the location of the oil leak. This is half of the job done already, the other half is to replace the offending gasket and stop the oil leak. Depending on the kind of car you have and the location of the oil leak this can be an easy diy job or it can be something that will need professional attention.

Common oil leak sources
1. Rear main seal
Your rear main seal is located between your engine and transmission and seals the end of your crankshaft preventing oil from escaping the crankcase. The rear main oil seal is not expensive itself (5-50$) but the labor involved in replacing it is usually much more expensive because the entire transmission or the transmission and engine combo need to be removed in order to replace the rear main oil seal. Oil leaks from the rear main oil seal are usually small and are more common on high mileage engines.

2. Valve cover gasket
The valve cover gasket is another common oil leak location but this one is usually easy to fix (unless you have a boxer engine). The valve covers sit on top of your engine and are usually easily accessible and replaceable on most engines.

3. Oil pan gasket
Leaks from the oil pan are also relatively common and the leak usually occurs at the oil pan gasket which is sandwiched between the oil pan and the engine block. Replacing the oil pan gasket can be an easy diy job or a very complicated and time consuming job depending on the make and model of the car. In front wheel drive cars with large displacement transversely mounted engines, replacing the oil pan can be very difficult and can even require removing the entire front sub-frame.

4. Oil leak after oil change
This one happens more often than you think and people regularly report seeing oil leaks after regular maintenance/ service / oil and oil filter change. If this is your case than you can only really suspect the three things that get touched during a regular oil and oil filter change and service and those are the oil pan (oil sump) bolt, the oil filter itself and the oil filler cap. Usually the culprit is the oil drain bolt on the oil pan that sometimes doesn't get tightened properly at a workshop or gets the wrong kind of washer on it causing an oil leak.

5. Timing cover gasket
An oil leak from a timing cover gasket is possible only on engines with a timing chain and not on engines with a timing belt. Depending on the placement of your engine (transverse or longitudinal) this can be an easy or a difficult task.

Is it safe to drive with an oil leak? If it's a small oil and your engine has enough oil in it than it's safe to keep driving until you reach somewhere when you can properly fix the oil leak. If the oil leak is big and your engine is loosing oil quickly than it's best to stop and get your car towed.

#d4a #oilleak #diy #mechanic #oilleakfix #gasket #rearmainseal #valvecover #mr2 #4age #aw11

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