I have been having an oil leak from the oil pan area and am getting little puddles under my car right below the oil pan after my car sits. I am going to replace the Oil Pressure Switch, but I feel that its not that, because I have oil all over the oil pan. Its hard to narrow it down, but I think there might be a chance its coming from the oil pans gasket. I also notice that if I run my car a little harder (ie redlining a gear or so), when I park the car the puddle of oil is bigger. I really need some help, I just cant seem to narrow it down. What should I look for? I have access to a lift so I can get under the car, but the whole oil pan is full of oil on the bottom. Any help/ideas would be great.

Thanks guys/gals,

-Nick

 

have you recently bottomed out the car anywhere? possibly denting the oil pan? maybe the oil pan gasket is burnt or the pan itself is warped im sure once u drop the oil pan ur answers will be there in front of u

 

maybe if you clean the area where the gasket and the pan ,it would be easy to see where the oil is seeping from. After cleaning the area,you may run the engine for some time (no nned to drive the car) and that should show you where the trouble is. Oil pan gasket replacement is not hard to replace ,so good luck.

 

Its most likely just the Pressure switch. Oil that leaks from that location will run down the oil pan and onto the lower oil pan (the black part).

In the mean time, just make sure to keep the oil level up.

 

replace your oil drain plug..maybe the washer on it is bad. They should be replaced around 60k anyway. Just a suggestion though.

 

If your car is like mine (96) the oil pressure switch is rear of the oil pan, if oil is all over your oil pan I would doubt this would be your problem. Jack your car up and look for two things, one look for blow back (the oil that is being sprayed back while driving) this will help you determine in what region the oil leak is coming from (if it was coming from your oil pressure switch you would have blow back behind the oil pan, not all over it.)

Next watch the leak, it should be seeping down from somewhere and you should see the line that it is creating. My guess would by like phatmax, you probably just need to change your drain plug washer, I had the same problem (thought it was the oil pressure switch) but it turned out to be that the guy who changed my oil didn't tighten the drain plug (I could turn it with my finger, and no one had changed the drain plug gasket as you should do every couple of changes) screw warranty records no one but me is changing my oil from now on.

Hope that helps

 

I highly doubt its my drain plug, because there is oil all over the pan above it. Where would I look for those timing chain cover leaks? Near the belts?

-Nick

 

IS it dripping right now? Clean off the oil on your pan so you can get an idea of where it is coming from.

 

My max had this same problem when I bought it. took it to a mechanic an they said it was the upper oil pan gasket (apparantly the oil pan is a two piece thing) I had that fixed and it still leaked. I took it back to the mechanic and they found that the oil was leaking from where the upper oil pan meets the inner timing chain cover. Ive heard of a few other max owners that have had this same problem. Anyway, your problem sounds alot like the problem I had. Hopefully for you it's not though. Its an expensive fix.

 

Yes it is very slightly, its more like sweating somewhere. If I race my car even just a little bit it drip a lot. It 'sweats' and is hard to track the leak. Any Ideas?
-Nick

 

I think I found it. Yesterday I did an oil change, changed out my oil pressure sensor, added some STOP LEAK 'stuff' and wiped the pan and all the oil I could see. No signs of any leaks for about 50 miles, but this morning I went out and came back and checked the underbody and I see a little sweat of oil on the oil pans gasket. I believe that it is definitely the pan's gasket, but I will wait a little longer to see if it gets worse and give this STOP LEAK crap some time to work.

-Nick