oil leak

[dirtynewsubie]

My 02 2.5L n/a recently started leaking oil, its not a steady leak just when you park after its warmed up. the oil appears to be from the rear main but could it be from the head gaskets?

[Jard]

You could clean the bottom of the motor off real well then it will be easier to see where it starts leaking.

[KevinWelker]

head gaskets typically don't leak oil.

The usual culprits are the cam covers or a bad crush washer that blows oil backwards onto everything while driving.

Good luck finding it, they can be a pain in the ass to track down.

[dirtynewsubie]

the bottom of the motor is pretty clean except for a little bit on the oil filter from who knows where its mostly all concentrated around the rear main and a little by the back of the valve/cam covers

[Jard]

Well then it could be the valve cover gaskets too.

[KevinWelker]

usually the highest point that has a small amount of oil coming from it is the source. As the oil drips down and is pushed by the airflow in the engine compartment while driving it fans out into a cone shape. Trace back to the point of the cone and it is a good point to start replacing seals or at least gooping on RTV as a temporary sealant to pinpoint the leak.

Incidentally we had a rally car spring a leak in the cam cover gasket in the middle of a rally with a really short service. We took a piece of aluminum foil, gooped it with RTV and used it as a temporary patch on the outside of the cam cover until we could replace the seal. Worked pretty well.

[dirtynewsubie]

theres no noticible triangle shape it just kinda seems like theres oil there