I was replacing my DCCC with my stock orange lights today when I noticed a very small, fresh oil stain in my parking spot. I got under the car and saw that the bolt keeping the oil in the pan was leaking oil at a very very slow rate. Now, this has never happened before but the last time I changed the oil (100 miles ago) I switched to Mobil 1 10W-30; until now, my car has only seen regular oil. I have about 73,400 miles on the engine so I didn't think switching would cause any problems. Anyone have any input or suggestions? Am I worrying about something normal?

~THT

 

Retorque the oil pan bolts?

 

Yep, did that. The bolt was tight but I loosened it and tightened it again. To be safe, I added about a quarter quart of oil too.

~THT

 

Are you sure the oil wasn't leaking from above the bolt - maybe the oil pressure sensor? If not, and it was only the bolt, grab a new one of those squishy nuts (you know, what fits between the bolt and the pan), and put it in there.

I can't think of a better term than squishy nut, since that's what it is - a nut made of pliable metal.

 

Did you replace the copper gasket on the bolt like you are supposed to?

 

^^^^^ he said it... as long as you mean that oil was leaking from the oil pan drain bolt (not the oil pan itself) - just replace the copper washer.

 

Copper washer? No copper washer there to begin with. Then again, I am the third owner of this car (Grandfather and father owned it before me) and they tended to do half-*** DIY jobs. Looks like I need to get a copper washer. And yes, it's the drain bolt that's leaking for sure. Thanks for the responses.

~THT

 

Step 1.

Remove all synthetic oil.

Step 2.

Use conventional oil

Unless you start out with synthetic dont use the stuff. It is bad to switch over. I had a very similar problem. I told my mechanic (builds race cars), and he was like "Hmmm, all you did was change your oil and you got a leak? That doesnt sound right." Then I told him that I used Mobil One. "Go drain your oil and replace with regular oil and your leak will go away." I replaced it and VOILA, no more leak.

 

Step. .1 Buy a $0.0003 copper drain washer and install it on the drain plug.

YOu really have no idea what you are talking about.

 

Your totally lost... the only reason why synthetic caused the leak is because synthetic has stronger detergents which have the ability to get through seeps easier. If you have a leak, dont just change back to conventional oil.. fix it.

 

Ok, not to get into a pissing match, but my mechanic knows what he is talking about. Im really just saying there is no reason to go to synthetic in the 1st place. If you have been running conventional the keep doing it. I have 189,000 miles on my car all with conventional oil. Is synthetic gonna buy me anything that the conventional didnt do in the last 189,000 miles? NO. In my case its not so easy as to replace a washer (front main seal) so switching back to conventional IS way more cost effective.

 

Synthetic is a superior oil, not only will it withstand heat for much longer than conventional it protects the engine alot better too.

You dont have to have a race car to see its benefits.

And who said anything about the front main seal? They're talking about the copper gaskets on the oil pan... which are as each to change as your oil.

 

I doubt that

How do you know? Maybe your engine is all sludged up with crap and just so happens to still be running? If you ran synthetic all this time, it would be much cleaner. Neither you or your mechanic could really comment on this accurately. No one could.

Um don't know about the VQs but I can do a front seal in about 1 hour.

 

Oh, scuse me for stepping into your thread. I was just posting my opinion of synthetic oil. I will go find a public forum to do so.

 

You want to post inaccurate facts about synthetics, you will be corrected. Sorry if that flies in the face of what you mechanic tells you. But now you know better and can lead a happy life.

 

Vqs can be done in 30 min.

 

Well if I really went to town, I could probably do it in 20 min. If it's just the seal itself, that only takes me 2 min

 

Hey all,
This is a great site, I regret not finding this site earlier. I've owned my maxima 98 GXE since new.
I've thought about going with Mobile 1 for both my vehicles, but have refrained from doing so by all this leak talk. Both cars have always had regular oils used. Do you guys think it's a good idea for high milage vehicles to start using full syn oils? Any experiences/success/failure stories? Thanks in advance for your input.

Keep up the good work. I thought the lexus owner's forum was good, you guys are just as good if not better.

Cheers
Jay

 

I agree that if you have a leak switching back to the non sythetic oil isnt the solution, good thing the sythetic found the leak before it could turn into something big down the line but your regular oil wouldnt leak it so you didnt know until something bad happend.

I'm going to be switching to sythetic soon, and have done research and know how much better for the engine it is than regular oil. I'll post my results.

 

u can use me as an example 236K MAX... I use Mobile 1 fully synth. since 50K on it or so never head a leak till 200K when my oil sensor started to leak through the wire holes.... and my car runs great no blue smoke no leaks.... i dont know wtf are these idiots talking about here that synthetic brakes ur engine.... in my case it made my car last longer with no engine problems.... and very smooth operation too...

btw we are gettin off topic here.... i know my words dont count here since i joined not too long ago... but wats with all the BS going around lately here....

just my 2 cents....

 

mobil 1..... 420,000 extremely hard miles and still runs like a charm. My 1982 max also mobil 1 had 410,000 before being wrecked so dubbya I wouldn't put a lot of value into what your mechanic says.

 

Your current Maxima has 420,000 mile? Holy bajesus, take a pic of your odometer, I would love to see that!

 

i don't have a digital camera yet(spending all my money on mobil 1 every 4-5 weeks).

 

Damn how many miles do you put on your car a week? I thought I was bad, I put 53,000 miles on my car in the past 2 years.