I've noticed that I've been needing to add oil lately... but I can't find a leak.

I haven't seen any oil showing up in my radiator or overflow... so I don't think it's a head gasket. I've also checked compression on all 6 of them cylinders in the VG30E... and they all look about the same. I haven't seen any horrible fouling anywhere either ... but maybe I'm not looking at the right place.

Do you guys think the front or rear seals need to be redone? I figure, if the rear seal is bad, then there would be oil in my coolant since the water pump sits right there next to the rear seal...

What else do you guys suggest that I look for?

I appreciate any comments...

 

Look for the leak with the car running. Certain oil leaks only show up under pressure. Like my front seal leak.

 

Adding oil is cheap...

 

but it adds up. why not hunt down the problem and fix it before it has the potential to get worse?

 

How often do you have to add oil? The only thing that sits next to the rear main seal is the flywheel. If that was leaking you'd see oil on the bottom between the engine and transmission saying that the area above that is clean.

 

how many miles are on your car. i know its not common for maxes to burn oil but maybe yours is. my parents old 85 chevy astro burned 1 quart a week

 

Depends on how you value your vehicle. My parts van uses 1 quart every 250 miles or so unless it's freeway driving when it's 2 quarts. I'd rather put $10/case oil in it and change the oil filter every 3K miles then even look for the leak.

If my Max started using oil (more then a quart in 3K miles) I'd probably look for that leak. If it wasn't to difficult or expensive to fix I'd fix it. But I carefully weigh what I fix and what I let pass. I'm not going to spend several hundred dollars to fix an oil leak because I'd never recoup that investment. However, if I'm in there fixing something else, I'm all over it.

 

Yeah... I probably need to file my previous post in the oops category... I confused the rear seal with the crankshaft seal...

I'm adding about 1 quart every fillup now... but that has happened only recently. I got the car at 80K miles, and it's up 125K miles now. I've used 5w-30 since I got it, so I know this problem is new and probably expensive...

Unfortunately for me, I don't have access to any tools and I can't fit my big head under my car... But it looks like the oil is coming out from something *near* the drain plug...

I honestly think that the guys who did my timing belt f-ed something up.

The Chilton's manual doesn't say much about the oil seal replacement behind the main crank pulley... should there be something that I should keep an eye out for that would indicate a problem?

 

I just replaced my front main seal 2 days ago. I let the leak gone on for a very long time until i realized that i had covered every parking spot in the parking lot with oil. It only gets worse with time man so fix it now and save your self from the smelly burning oil and messy oil spots that your gunna get. Mine would smoke out the engine bay every time i came to a stop. Its a pain to fix because you have to take your time belt off but im very glad its not leaking anymore and i dont have to cough on the burning oil anymore.

 

the guy who just did the T-belt should've replaced the following parts...
T-belt
T-belt tensioner
T-belt spring (not sure that comes w/ the tensioner)
crank oil seal (most likely this is leaking)
cam oil seals (x2)
water pump

most likely he didn't replace any of the oil seals...most don't unless u ask.

 

yup, what Danno said..

how long has it been since the last timing belt change?
if it's been more than 40k miles, you might as well just take it to a shop and have them change the timing belt, and have them change the oil seals while it's in there... make sure you mention that, and to look for any other sources of oil while they're in there. I'd rather pay them an extra $20 to replace one more seal they find leaking than to pay them $300 last to do the whole job again because they replaced ONLY what you told them.

 

Hmmm, I dug out the receipt from the bottom of a moving box... it looks like they charged me for cam seals x 2 and one crankshaft seal. Unfortunately, it doesn't say they actually did the work to replace the seals... sneaky.

I'll call up the shop and have them look at it. With my luck, they'll probably offer to fix the seal for free (that'd be lucky for sure)... or feed me some weirdness about how I have some blown head gasket and a busted oil drain pan gasket (not so lucky).

It does look like it's the crankshaft seal though... I had a big ol' puddle under my car today and all the oil looks to have seeped from the gap right below where the main pulley sits

As a hypothetical, if the shop refuses to fix the seal - what should I do?

 

talk to the owner...if that gets u no where threaten lawsuit?

 

Sorry, I just like Danny's sig

I've also have an oil leak, but my oil level doesnt seem to change, go figure.

 

Well, I guess I wasn't so lucky. The shop that did the work said that it was a leak related to the timing belt. Unfortunately, their claim is that the timing belt itself is causing the leak.

Now, why is this important? It is because I requested that they use a genuine Nissan supplied timing belt. Their claim is that a Nissan belt is not a belt that they would normally use. Therefore, the timing belt voided the warranty on all parts and labor related to the job.

The shop does not offer any explanation to how a timing belt could cause the leak, and they say nothing about their leaky crankshaft seal. I asked how a timing belt being defective could possibly cause an oil leak (that is, without the other problems such as bent valves and a car that won't run). They just shrugged their shoulders and told me to go look it up.

I guess I can take this to small claims court, but this is total BS. What do you guys suggest that I do?

FYI, this was the shop's manager who said all this.

 

Tell them that you are contacting your lawyer regarding their violation of the "Magnuson-Moss
Warranty Act"
While not truly applicable in your case.
It should be enough to scare em
And you have a completely legitimate legal case that is easily winnable in court.
Who brought the part from the dealer?
If they did then it is 100% their fault as they should have checked the part for fitment before and during installation.
If you brought it. Be prepared to disassemble the motor and remove the belt to have it verified as the correct part.
Since you WILL have to have it inspected. Be sure to take it to an ASE certified shop. Preferably one that has prior experience with the courts.