I have 1997 Infiniti I30 with around 160K miles.

So far I never had any oil leakage issues but due to recommendation of few of my friends I switched to Mobil 1 SuperSyn oil 5K miles ago and since then I am seeing the leakage near the oil pan as well as near some switch with wires coming out. It is either oil level sensor or oil pressure sensor.

Is this a common problem with others? Upon search I saw some related posts with oil leak problems but some had crankshaft seal leak whereas others have power steering leaks and what not.

Upon checking the torgue on oil pan bolts I found that those were loose and I was able to turn atleast half a turn on most of them. I tightened them to 30 ft/lbs torque. Hope that corrects the pan gasket leak.

I still need to understand how come those were loose and never leaked before. And what exact part I need to buy to replace that switch.

I will appreciate the experts help that I will receive on this forum.

By the way this is my first post here. Looks like a great site and forum for all the maxima and I30 related info.

Thanks,
EMT

 

I had the same problem, it wasnt the oil pressure sending unit. It was soaked in oil but it wasnt the culprit. My control arm was soaked in oil and it looked like it was coming from behind the power steering pump... although the leak was engine oil not power steering fluid. A fellow orger had the same problemm and leak and found it to be the rear valve cover gasket. Check it out, it may be somehting as simple as that.

 

Dude, take out the Mobile One Synthetic. That was your problem. Never switch over to synthetic. If you start with it in the begining its good, but never switch over. Synthetic finds any little place that conventional oil would normally not leak from.

Dub

 

You keep talking crap about synthetic, quit it already. The reason Synthetic "caused" that leak is because sythetic has superior detergents.. its a much better oil. Stop posting BS.

 

Here you go Mr. EMT Check out this thread.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=342579

 

hehe ^^^^^^^ really you would think that people would actually know something about a product before they put it down...

 

I won't go into the science behind why you may find a leak after switching to synthetic ...however that is what you find.... the area that leaks now was seeping before.... I have noticed a small drop around the trans/oil pan since I switched.. no big deal.... no drips ... just a drop when I'm under the car... the reason synthetic finds a way out when regular oil would not .... is related to the uniformity of the product.. synth is "made" regular oil is refined.... later

 

Your right about that, however it is a superior oil when it comes to protecting your engine when it comes to cleaning it and protecing it against heat. Problem is the leak was pretty much going to happen anyway... so if you have that leak... you just have to fix it

 

from my own experince i had a leak from that oil sensor @ about 200K... cost me only like $7.00 i think from auto zone... also took off my oil pan cleaned out the old silicone and resealed it with nissan silicone... and no leaks soo far... so check out those spots its an easy fix...

 

and dude wtf are u talking about my max used only MOBILE 1 Synthetic oil since like 50K on it till now.. which is 236K+ and it runs perfect... i allways get about 3.5-4 quarts of oil with every oil change depending how hard i went on the car... from what my friends told me theres no blue smoke coming from my car .. gaskets go cause they get old and crack.... Synthetic oil is superior to any conventional oil out there.... it only made my car better in a long run cause it protected my engine better then regular oil....

 

i know someone who said neihoff oil pressure sensor from autozone is not reliable. how long do you have that oil pressure sensor on there. i have a leak from that area as well.

 

the sensor has about 36K+ on it

 

good info. thanks.