chrismo

I'm a car idiot, consider yourself forewarned.

92 GXE - 190k+ - just had the oil changed and it's leaking at a good rate -- dunno if it's related. What can I do myself to check it out before taking it to my mechanic?

It had a rear main seal leak about 20k ago, got that fixed when I had a new tranny put in.

chrismo

Isaacm

I would check the obvious. Since you don't know much about cars, (I'm no geneous, but I've done enough repairs)I'll start simplest first...

1) Is the drain plug tight? It's under the passenger side, behind the front tire.

2) Is the oil filter tight? Look under the hood, back side of the engine, facing the fire wall. It should be hand-tight.

I guess that's where I would start. Anything beyond that would most likely be a seal.

I hope this helps!!

brubenstein

The drain plug is supposed to have a copper gasket. If it got lost when the oil was being changed it will leak. If someone tries to tighen the plug enough to make it stop leaking, without the gasket, the drain pan hole could get stripped. It could also be a bad gasket on the oil filter. You can tell by where the oil puddle is: front passanger wheel - drain plug, back by the fire wall - oil filter.

superdesi

The engine oil drain plug I took out today had no such gasket.

I went to the dealer and got a new plug with gasket for $4.00.

But I never had oil leaks prior to installing the new plug.
Is the gasket really needed?

brubenstein

Yes, you really, really need the gasket.