Took my car to the mechanic today because of oil on the engine and his diagnosis was this:

Found oil to be leaking from the timing cover area as well as the rear main seal area. Proper fix will be replacement of the rear main seal and cam/crank seals.

The proper fix cost well over 1500 bucks..but I paid 4000 for the car back in 2006. Is there anything thats cheaper I can do?

forgot to mention its a 1998 if that helps any...

 

The rear main seal is very expensive to fix due to the amount of labor involved. I would hesitate to pay for that replacement.

There are several potential leaks from the timing cover, including one from the cam position sensor that is easy to see and fix with a new o-ring, see here:

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...sor-phase.html

 

thanx for the replay...

would not fixing it kill the car sooner than normal?

 

Get a "new" motor and swap it in.

 

that doesn't seem any cheaper

 

Couple hundred cheaper probably. There's no cheap solution here.

 

Replacing the rear main seal includes getting the transmission out of the way.

 

If you are maunual trans, pay for a clutch job and tell them you'll pay an extra .5 hour for a seal swap. This is a job I would DIY because its the ONLY affordable way, but I understand it's not for everyone. If you go as far as replacing the RMS, it would be best to go ahead and reseal the upper and lower pan and replace the front crank seal. Do it right , do it once.

 

This question is this though, "is it ready the RMS or is it the seals on the upper oil pan?". OP, read thru this thread before you start dropping money.

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...d-leakage.html

 

its an automatic. And while I have a huge sentimental attachment to the car a 1500 - 2000 repair job is just not affordable on a few levels.

what sealants could I use as a temp measure?

and is this an issue that could make the car conk out on me anytime soon?

 

How much oil is your car using? Just keep an eye on it and make sure it stays full. As much as people hate it, I am running some stop leak stuff thru mine right now. I have not had it in long enough to tell if it has worked or not but i will update that other thread I referenced.

 

I'm in similar spot - mechanic told me to just keep an eye on the oil level, it's not worth fixing and it probably won't be a major issue unless it becomes a more major leak. I wish we had better dipsticks though - I'm never confident in the A32 dipstick.

 

actually i was apparently driving with the leak for quite a while until I got it checked. So I guess oil isn't draining from the area. But I will keep an eye on from now on.

any particular sealant I should consider using?

 

I used something made by Gold Eagle that I found at Walmart. Gold Eagle is supposed to be pretty good stuff and has gotten good reviews online. It came in a black 12oz bottle and said stop leak on the front. It says it will help repair rear main seals so I figured I'd try it. I am pretty sure mine is leaking from the upper oil pan seals so i figured if the stuff is good for RMS, it may help the pan seals. I'll check under the car Thursday, clean it then drive and see how it looks. They say give it 200 miles to work and I am just about at 200.

 

most likely your rear main seal isn't leaking. ITs not super common on these engines. Is it leaking right under the tranny? If it is then you probably do have a RMS leak

 

Agree much here as it is your oil pan half moon seals that's leaking. Redid mine last summer and went and looked a week ago, absolutely no oil to the point that the oil pan is rusting.

 

Good points above about the upper oil pan leaking instead of the rear main seal. Take it from those with experience, not me, I haven't replaced that one yet.

Back to the accessory side of the engine, when the power steering pump starts leaking it makes a mess in that area too. It doesn't just drip, the shaft or pulley seem to fling the fluid all over that area.

All these leaks that I've had made a big mess around the engine, and a few drips on the pavement after each shutdown, but never significantly lowered the oil or power steering fluid levels. They were very slow leaks, but enough to make a mess. What became intolerable is one of them would get some oil on an exhaust header causing a awful stink.

I replaced the valve cover gaskets (along with spark plug tube seals and intake manifold gasket) last summer but they were not the culprit. I know some of you enjoy taking off the intake, but I did not.

 

As for your leak on the power steering pump, its your return hose going from reservoir to pump. The clamp by the pump is either not tight enough or the hose is splitting. Resolved by replacing the hose with OEM and its bone dry.

 

Trini Boom, thank you for the tip! I will work on that return hose next opportunity I get.

 

that seems to be the issue for me.. I checked the oil level and nothing noticeable. But I haven't really gotten an answer to the question. If I can keep the oil level good but let the leak go since its so expensive to repair properly whats the worst that can happen?