Hello everyone. I’ve been experiencing a small, yet noticeable oil leak over the past few months for my Monte Carlo. The engine loses about 3 quarts every oil change (~5000 miles). I’ve checked the VC gaskets and they checked out, and went around the entire top half of the engine and nothing really popped out to me, so I bought some of that UV dye and threw it in, which leads me to this video, filmed on the passenger’s side of the car by the oil pan and the (front cover?) Is this a common leak area for 3800 engines? If anyone could lead me to the right direction, I’d be very grateful.

 

That's a lot of oil loss...

For some reason I cant get uploaded videos to play on here anymore. I suspect my phone doesn't have the driver to support the video format.

Up on that front end (assuming you know for sure its coming from the bottom), it could be oil pan, front cover, or front main seal. Oil pan is probably the most common of the 3, but Ive seen leaks from all of them. Oil pan is also the worst to fix by far IMO.

I don't really have much advice other than maybe to take some brake cleaner or something to get that area 100% squeaky clean, then start and run the engine while on jack stands so you can try to catch where it seeps from.

 

Looking at the video, everything underneath is just caked in crud. Best action is to clean it all and then start looking for fresh drips.
I had to change a leaking oil pan gasket on my black Monte (and also ended up replacing the oil pan). *IF* you have to change the oil pan gasket, I would also suggest, change the lower motor and trans mounts. You HAVE to lift the car off the lower motor mount any ways, it is a hydraulic mount and probably leaked out. At that point that mount is cheap and easy.
The oil pan gasket is only hard because you have to unbolt like 3-5 15mm bolts in hard to reach spots (in addition to slightly raising the engine and supporting it). I managed to do it all in my driveway, did not disconnect the exhaust (it had plenty of room).

I have some pics buried in this thread:
https://montecarloforum.com/forum/sh...k-monte-62826/

 

Sounds like a plan. I’ll degrease it and post you guys with updates, thanks!

 

Hello again. I believe I may have found the source of the oil leak, but I’ve also discovered a decent bit of coolant loss in addition to the leak, which I believe to be the LIM gasket, pictured in the video below. My only question is does a leaky LIM gasket cause both coolant and oil loss? I’ve inspected nearly the whole engine and I keep coming back to the area where the coolant elbows/intake manifold are. Let me know what you guys think, thanks.

(Video on Youtube)

 

The coolant loss could be the common "coolant elbow" failure. And the oil around there, again, hard to say what it is from.

It is possible the upper and lower intake gaskets need changed. They do age.

 

I see. Only reason I ask is because the UV dye is coming from there, and making its way down the side of the engine by the pulleys to where it drips, same with the coolant. I will probably strip the engine down and take care of every gasket above the heads, including VC gaskets to be safe. If you have any more input, I'd greatly appreciate it, but apart from that, thanks for the help thus far!