Little fresh oil under car sometimes

darkwizard · 08-24-2003

Well I just got back from a 10 day vacation and before I left, I had a little oil under my car which I washed away and thought oh well, its normal. Then today when I got back and went to go to work, I noticed there was a bit of oil under the car. Its not burnt oil, its still clean and it seems like there might just be a bolt that needs to be tightened by the oil pan (or so thats what someone told me). I have school starting tomm. so I can get my car raised up and look at it from the bottom. What should I look for? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Btw, my oil gauge shows a little bit higher than normal oil. Could it be extra oil just coming out?

Terrible Juan · 08-24-2003

Extra oil wouldn't leak out. If I were you I'd put your car on some jack stands and get under there with a rag and Simple Green (maybe even a wire brush). Clean out all the oily spots and then wait until it starts dripping again. You'll eventually find it.

The first places I'd look would be the valve cover gaskets, oil pressure sending unit housing, and the oil pan.

StangGtDriver91 · 08-28-2003

Your oil gauge does not measure how much oil your engine has, just the pressure. Mine leaked about half a qt. every 3 months, and so i changed the valve gaskets and its fine now. i would check that first.

StangGtDriver91 · 08-28-2003

valve cover gaskets******

darkwizard · 08-28-2003

ohhh, that makes sense to me. I'm such a rookie at this stuff. lol. Alrighty, yeah, my pressure seems a bit high, I just got into auto service today so I will ask a few friends tomm. and see if I can check it out @ school. What else can be causing high oil pressure? Oh, recently, it has been fine also, but I dunno how long it will be good.

Thanks,
- Bogdan

Terrible Juan · 08-29-2003

Yea, the guage does not show how much oil you have. It is for pressure only. If your check oil light comes on, it means you are down one quart. I still think it would be worth your time to degrease as much as you can down there and then look for fresh oil a few days later.

1998GT · 08-29-2003

I'd check your oil to see how much you have leaked, dont want to be runnin it with low oil.

darkwizard · 08-29-2003

Last time I checked, I had a bit too much, then a little leaked out.. ;\ so now, I figure I am probably at about normal, lol. I will go check it out tommorow. Thanks for the help guys.

- Bogdan