common oil leaks on an eta?

[Gr00v3]

where are they?

[PУCCKAЯ_e30ka]

depends on what condition... if average, then prolly everywhere!

[SchnellerVert]

Shouldn't leak anywhere due to low stress levels.

[ummagawd]

haha i have a pretty major leak.... and the oil is caked everywhere underneath... so its hard to tell

trying to get an idea of what to replace

[browntown]

might try engine cleaner on the crud to better identify the source of the leak. A valve cover gasket and an oil pan gasket shouldn't set you back too bad.

[lordofthewaters]

Valve cover gasket is definately the cheapest/easiest to fix. I think it's fairly common for them to leak too especially over time and/or if they are crushed by improper torquing. Plus autozone should have them as normal store stock. At least mine does. 12 bucks and change. But, I agree invest in a jug of good quality degreaser, wash it down good and then wait for the oil trail..........

[AdamF 88iS]

Oil pan gasket and valve cover gasket are the 2 big ones.

[02stu]

rear main seal, and its a bitch to replace. You should see oil leaking out of the bottom of the bell housing if its leaking.

[PУCCKAЯ_e30ka]

rear main seal, and its a bitch to replace. You should see oil leaking out of the bottom of the bell housing if its leaking.

i'd say that's pretty common

[Sean]

i'd say that's pretty common

Specially with higher miles.

You could try running thicker oil to fix it - but I wouldn't reccomend it.

If the rear main seal is out, I'd say, start saving your money, since you might as well do all the tranny seals, the clutch, flywheel resurfacing, mounts...yadda yadda - while you're down there. lol

[E304life]

If you wanted to pin point it you could degrease the engine, add oil die, then put the car in a dark garage with a hand held black light and some dorky yellow tinted glasses. This one of the better methouds of pinpointing leaks.

[ummagawd]

yenno... a friend of mine brought up a good point... although any oil leak is bad... cleaning it up might make it worse.

His e30 was leaking a good amount... and when he went to go clean it up to find the course.... oh man it made it worse! The caked up oil was holding in alot of the oil leaks.

At any rate... valve cover gasket, new drain plug and washer is on order. I hope its not the rear main or oil pan... those are PITA

[RobertK]

When I got my car I had to do the camshaft seal, the bind plugs, the valve cover, the oil pan gasket, rebuilt the oil cooler with all new seals, replaced the oil sender because it was leaking, and I replaced the rear main seal once already last summer and it's already started leaking again because I did not follow the directions when I replaced it.

[ummagawd]

When I got my car I had to do the camshaft seal, the bind plugs, the valve cover, the oil pan gasket, rebuilt the oil cooler with all new seals, replaced the oil sender because it was leaking, and I replaced the rear main seal once already last summer and it's already started leaking again because I did not follow the directions when I replaced it.

eek... i'd hate to spend all that only to mess it up again...

i bought my ride as a daily driver... maybe i can deal with an oil leak haha

[ldsbeaker]

I'm tired of the damn oil slick in my garage, and I won't clean it up until there aren't any leaks. In about two weeks, I will replace my steering rack (Z3, woot), oil pan gasket, oil plug, and valve cover gasket. I hope that covers it, because I'm tired of it.