Oil leak problems

Ok, last week I noticed my car was leaking small drops of oil over night, some times as big as a quarter(25cents). I have checked my dipstick and its still full since my last oil change about 4 months ago. What I want to know is, has anybody had a simlar problem and how it can be solved. I dont want to go to lincoln because last time they said 75 just to look at it.

A leak that slow will take a very long time to see on the dipstick. You may be experiencing the infamous oil filter gasket issue. Someone else can elaborate better on this since I have never run across it.

If you don't want to pay the dealer to look at it, you'll have to look at it yourself.

Just look up from where the oil spot is and try to see where it's leaking from.

If it's from the oil filter area, it could be the oil filter adapter plate gasket, the oil sender (I've had both of these problems) or it could be the oil filter gasket itself.

Other areas to look at are the oil pan and gasket, and cam cam cover gaskets.

If there is too much oil on all these parts to see where the leak is, clean them up good, run the engine (cold engine if possible) and look again.

The oil filter adapter is on the driver side of the engine..

BUT the subsequent oil spot should be almost directly centered under the car, because the oil leaks, runs down the K member and down to a little "spout" like "dent" in the center of the K member.

makes it difficult to determine where the oil leak is coming from because it runs down to the center of the K member before it falls to the ground.

Look at the area behind your oil filter, you should see evidence of a leak, it might look like a "clean area" due to the oil cleaning off the dirt.

Replacing the gasket isn't hard, for the most part.. it's just in a cramped position and takes a bit of patience...

For the first time, it'll probably take 1-2 hours to pull it off...

After that, it only takes 20-30 minutes to do, once you figure out all the contortionist positions you need to get into...

hope this helps

oil leak

oil leak

LSCPEARLRIDER said:

Ok, last week I noticed my car was leaking small drops of oil over night, some times as big as a quarter(25cents). I have checked my dipstick and its still full since my last oil change about 4 months ago. What I want to know is, has anybody had a simlar problem and how it can be solved. I dont want to go to lincoln because last time they said 75 just to look at it.

Click to expand...

Check out this link:

http://www.lincolnsonline.com/tech/00041.html

I had this same problem. I bought the gasket and had the job done because my back is bad and I didn't feel like lying on the cold ground. It cost me $300.00! That hurt more than my back!

If its still full after 4 months, I'm going to either suggest checking the drain plug(center of the car) and also the "Oil Level Sensor" right about the drain plug(also center of the car). This will leak the most while the car is sitting and since its NOT pressurized, the size of the puddle will be decided on how long you let the car sit. If it was the oil filter gasket, you'd know because even the smallest leak in that gasket will be pressurized and will leak more while you're driving it, so when you park it'll leave a nice puddle definitally bigger than a quarter.

Please post a reply if you've found anything