So... my vehicle has reached 148,000 miles, mostly unscathed.

However, I noticed a oil marks on the pavement where I park my vehicle.
It was time for an oil change as it was, so brought it in to get the oil changed, and mentioned the leak. I got a peak at the underside of my monte while it was on the lift, and it was a small leak, and the mechanics at NTB thought that it was likely a small leak on the rear main seal. They advised watching the leak, checking every 1,500 miles. It is not eating oil, and the leak again, after 3000 miles was less than one quart.

I don't have / can't justify putting $900+ in my monte (as much as I love her, I can't)

I've found a product, Bar's rear main seal oil addative. The reviews on amazon are favorable, saying that it does the trick, either decreasing the leak, or eliminating it completely.

Anyone have any comments or insight?

 

mine is bad and they want you to pay 900????? granted my dad is friends with my mechanic but he said he would pull the engine to swap it on my 3100 for 400. he advised waiting tho i plan on doing a build up a cam and swap all gaskets when it needs to be done. but i leak 2 quarts every 2,500 roughly now

 

i would advise against the bar's stop leak unless it starts pouring oil out and you want to make a last ditch effort before replacing the seal. check the oil every saturday and top off as needed and you'll be fine, no need to clog up the oiling system with stop leak.

 

I have to agree with Skylark.. Are they sure its the rear main and not the oil pan?.. I would suspect the oil pan to leak before a rear main,.. unless you've never changed the PCV on the vehicle and the pressure in the crankcase blew out the seal whereas the PCV is plugged and not venting.. I would get another opinion before pulling the motor to replace the rear main.

 

It's not a big deal honestly if you have an engine hoist then I feel pretty confident you could change it yourself if you have a few hours to spare. Literally a seven dollar rubber seal that's all it is. Pull the engine and slap that baby in there and then mate her back to the tranny and your done. Had a good leak when I first got my Monte several years ago. Changed the rear main seal haven't had a problem since.

 

I would also consider,
Carefully check the torque on the pan bolts...just to be sure to not over torque the pan bolts so as to not warp it....

I am a believer in Lucas Products.... However, additives are not a cure all...
If it proves out after you check the pan bolts...That that isn't the source of the leak... Maybe its a valve cover issue leaking? (Just a guess)...

If I were to use and additive. It would be a Lucas product!... I do at every oil change use Lucas High Mileage additive in Mine... with 167,000 miles on mine... I think it will allow mine to run at its very best for many years/miles to come...

 

Yeah, I'm going to get another place to take a look under the vehicle.

I don't have an engine hoist or area to do the work myself, and I don't feel that I could do it myself, so that is not an option, not to mention this is my Daily Driver, so not going to chance it and screw it up myself and be without a ride.

looking at reviews for the lucas stop leak, it has similar reviews to the bar's rear main seal stop leak. So I could go either way.

and yeah, at 150k miles, I've talked to NTB about which other seals and/or gaskets should be replaced (all original currently) and they mentioned the valve covers and oil pan seal. Currently they are running numbers to see how much it's going to cost me to do that, do it all a once, instead of little by little (better to rip the hang nail off then to tug it off little by little).

Because it isn't going to just go away, and a leak stopper is just a stop gap until it just fails completely. It's not leaking a lot right now, but it can get worse.

 

Hey man, if your unsure of where the leak is coming from you can always degrease the entire engine bay up top and underneath (easier with a hoist) and then check back on it in a couple of days to see if for sure the valve covers are leaking down or whathaveyou. I honestly wouldnt even guess.. as guessing is quite expensive. Have some one wash the engine down and than do your checks.. proper diagnostics = correct results.

George

 

second opinion by another shop said that it was the Oil pan gasket and not the rear main seal.

I had the got a few quotes, and got it taken care of at the dealership (they were similar price to the other quotes, and tossed in a free loaner for the day). Week later and I don't see any new drip spots.

 

Oil pan gaskets are common to go bad on our cars. The oil just eats away at the gasket material causing the leak. I just finished rebuilding the engine on my 03 and have been driving it for a few days now, and I started to notice small oil spots sitting on top of the engine mount brace. Its such a pain in the *** cuz I put RTV gasket maker on the block to timing cover mating surfaces and did the job proper with thread sealant on all the bolts and torqued everything down to spec and the damned thing has a small leak at the corner of the pan. I even torqued down the bolts a quarter turn and that didnt help. I would def check and make sure AGAIN that there is no leaks anywhere, and whether or not GM puts RTV I'm not sure, but that s*** needs time to cure. Congrats.