Hi everyone,
I have a serious oil leak, leaking about a quart a week from my 2004 3800. When I bought the car last year I noticed it was leaking, as the rear bumper and trunk had a film of oil all over it. A local mechanic replaced the oil pan gasket for me, I supplied the gasket (a new Felpro one) and he installed it after pulling the motor mount. He applied the orange sealant to all 4 corners, I can see the RTV at the edges. It is still leaking, looks to be on the rear corner drivers side of the pan. I put some fluorescent dye in it and can see it dripping out there by the corner bolt. All the bolts are spec'd to correct torque. I took off the plastic cover over the flywheel and there is no oil on the flywheel, so I think there is not a main seal leak, wouldn't that leak onto the flywheel?
Could the pan be bent, or what else would cause the new gasket to leak the same as the old one? Any one else ever had this issue? I dumped in some Lucas oil stop leak and it slowed down for about a week but is back to the usual leak!
Dave

 

If the oil pan is still leaking bring it back to the mechanic. silicone around the corners is a normal thing but it sounds like he didn't get the gasket on right. Even though it's a 1 piece gasket it sounds like the corner tab isn't in proper but a simple fix.

 

Can I ask how much this cost?

 

Depends on your shop time cost. It can book anywhere from 3-5 hours, because they usually just drop the cradle to do the work.

 

I was quoted 500 ...

 

Yeah my car had a 60 day warranty that covered service if I bought the gasket. I would take it back and have him fix it but I moved since then and would have to take a day off of work to bring it back in to that guy. Might just have to lift the motor and remove the mount myself although I know it is a lot of work to get at the bolts.

 

Well I did replace the oil pan and gasket, figured the original mechanic that changed it might have done something wrong. I lifted the engine with a hoist, removed the engine mount/bracket, and was able to pull the pan and scrape the block clean. I put in a new FelPro gasket and used RTV on all 4 corners, lined up the tabs and all the bolts were torqued to specs (120 inch pounds=10 foot pounds) and it still leaks in the same place, around the plastic flywheel cover. So my thought is it is the rear main seal, although I don't see any oil at all on the flywheel, so I'm confused. I know the engine has to be pulled and separated from the transmission to change the seal, and was quoted $1000 from a local mechanic so not sure what to do next.

 

Sorry to hear it's still leaking Dave. not a quick fix for that one.

 

Got the Monte back yesterday after a week in the shop. The mechanic pulled the engine and upon inspection found the rear seal housing was cracked, so replaced that, the seal and all the gaskets. So hopefully that solved it! I had never heard about problems with the rear seal housing but was able to find a photo of it online in case anyone is curious of what it looks like.

 

Glad you found the issue and it wasn't more serious.