Adventures in oil leaks

I've had a small oil leak from the front of the motor for a little while now and intended to get to it this week. I figured it was probably the wp drive seal. I also had some drippage from the back side of the motor.

I got under the car monday and it was leaking from the low oil sensor and the oil filter adapter. I replaced both of those and cleaned the underneath good.

I checked monday night and had some more leakage under the car. I ran my hand behind the intake and it was pretty wet. Spent tuesday replacing the intake gasket. Tuesday night the car ran fine but gave me fits starting. Wednesday morning the same thing. I double checked everything and finally remembered that when I cleaned the front of the motor off I had sprayed it with brake cleaner and forgot I had the opti unplugged when I moved the harness. Pulled the plug and dried it out, problem solved. The good part is back to the small leak in the front.

Last night I got done and when I went to unload the car, I smelled oil. Looked underneath and the small front leak had grown. The car is now undercoated for another year. I spent the drive home cussing it out and explaining it will never get any body damage fixed or mods if it keeps this crap up.

When I got up today I checked the pcv valve. It was clear since I just replaced it a couple months ago. I had noticed when I had the throttle body off there was some condensation in the pass side breather hose so I took it off and sprayed some carb cleaner in there. It was washing out chunks of peanut butter looking mess. I took the plate off the top and the gasket had streched and formed itself to the throttle body, effectively blocking any kind of pcv action. No wonder the car was springing leaks like crazy.

I couldn't get a new gasket since no one had one in stock AND you can't buy just the gasket. It comes in a fuel injection gasket kit. The dealer told me $45.00 and advance wanted $55.00. I bought a roll of rubberized gasket material and made my own. I hope it holds up.

One observation, if the change oil indicator is supposed to somehow figure oil life, mine is pretty stupid. I changed the oil monday and my light came on tuesday.

What a week.
Jon

wow, my little leak at the back of Dusty seems insignificant now (I think it's the rear main seal)
and it's a smalll drip now (compared to the spray factor I had going a couple of weeks ago).

One thing I noticed with the oil sensor. I had changed the oil and the light went on in about 700 miles. The oil was dirty so I changed it again and it didn't go on again for 5000 miles (wife's car she's not so 3K religious as me). So maybe you got a bunch of crap in your oil from the work you've just done. Just a thought.

Agree with Sprocket completely.Chances are the oil condition sensor is reading the moisture content and you obviously had a moisture problem.Good luck Jon and get that damage fixed and make your wagon happy again.
Jim Gordon

Update- Ceaning out the pcv and changing the throttle plate gasket has made a huge difference. It didn't "fix" the leaks but slowed them way down. The car also seems to run a whole lot better. The engine feels "free-er" if that makes sense. Gas mileage has gone up, too. Last night I saw 23.5 mpg.

Jon

My throttle plate gasket is/has been trashed for a while. Is that an Autozone part?

The only way I could get it local was to order the fuel injection gasket kit. That was $45.00 to $55.00 dollars. I bought a $5.00 roll of felpro rubberized gasket material and used the bottom of the plate for a pattern and made my own. It's holding up so far.

Jon

Autozone does not appear to sell just the throttle body gasket, but Advance does. Felpro PN 60655. Cost $3.89. Bought one for my 1A2 last year.

Felpro 60655. Duly noted

Just to be clear PN 60655 is the gasket to mount the Throttle Body to the Intake and not the gasket for the plate on top of the Throttle Body.

I made one out of a roll of gasket material and it works just fine.

94Woody wrote:

Just to be clear PN 60655 is the gasket to mount the Throttle Body to the Intake and not the gasket for the plate on top of the Throttle Body.

I made one out of a roll of gasket material and it works just fine.

My mistake, I thought we were talking about the throttle body to intake
I bought that rubber gasket for the cover on the throttle body from RMS, at $10.50 it wasn't too bad.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

94X2 wrote:

Update- Ceaning out the pcv and changing the throttle plate gasket has made a huge difference. It didn't "fix" the leaks but slowed them way down. The car also seems to run a whole lot better. The engine feels "free-er" if that makes sense. Gas mileage has gone up, too. Last night I saw 23.5 mpg.

Jon

I beat this drum pretty hard but a lot of cars I have worked on from various manufacturers tend to sludge up the PCV pipes. clean them out when you change the PCV valve.

94Woody wrote:

Just to be clear PN 60655 is the gasket to mount the Throttle Body to the Intake and not the gasket for the plate on top of the Throttle Body.

I made one out of a roll of gasket material and it works just fine.

Damn, just special ordered one today. Oh well, another gasket that will sit in the cabinet......

rubberized gasket roll..... I'll get some tomorrow when I get the intake gasket. Clean out the PCV tube..... got it.