Thinking LIM....

[birdhouse]

Welp, I knew it was going to happen, I just didn't think this early. I have been driving my 00' pretty hard lately, so I hope that's what's wrong, but I'm not sure...

I pulled into the gas station here at home (after about an hour and a half of driving) and everything was ok. I get back into the car, look down, and my Change Oil light is on. Immediately I thought the worst. So, I drive back to my house (about 3 mins. away) and get out and get my mag light and look around. She's def. leaking oil cause there's 2 pools on either side of the block, one right under the belts and the other directly under the MAF. It seems to be external only right now, but the engine/oil was too hot to check to make sure there isn't any coolant in the oil itself. Could there be something else going wrong? This engine only has 56,500 (exactly) on it... My 3.1 in my old 95' didn't do this until almost 120,000... If it's a LIM, this is it... I barely have enough each month to pay the rent and my insurance, there's no way in hell I'll be able to afford a LIM fix... Any other ideas on what might be happening?? :(

[rixGAphx]

There are two pools of oil on the garage floor.

Prolly an oil leak or two. Duh.

Why are you thinking LIM? That's coolant.
Even though a LIM leak *might* result in coolant in the crankcase, that wouldn't cause either
'Check Oil' light to illuminate or oil to leak.

Check oil for level and condition when it cools, and tell us the results.

-Rick

[birdhouse]

Thanks for the info, Rick... But, the leaks aren't on the floor. The leaks are just sitting on whatever's under the block. I don't think it's actually leaking onto the ground yet, but I'll check in the morning before I go to work. I'll update you probably around 4 tommorow afternoon...

The other thing is, that I can see where it's leaking out of the block itself. There's oil stains down each side where the pools are sitting on the block. I don't know exactly what that means, but that's what it's doing.

[birdhouse]

Oil level was/is fine, but it does look darker than it should be after only 1000 miles... My dad said that my air filter could cause it or maybe a faulty PVC pipe or something... I dunno... He's on his way down right now to check it out and see if he can figure out what's up.

[sunrunner_pei]

I'm with Rick, it doesn't really sound like LIM gasket leak. Try to find where the oil is leaking from, it could be an easy fix.

[birdhouse]

Update: My dad ended up having some last minute work that needed to get done, so he couldn't make it down today, but he'll be down tommorow. The oil def. isn't leaking bad enough to be making any kind of puddles or marks on the ground below my car. I can't seem to pinpoint where it's coming from, but on both sides of the block right above the exhaust manifold (I'm guessing... not sure if that's right) it's leaking down the sides of the block. There's also stains near my plugs in the back and right on top of my power steering resevoir. I'm not sure if this will help at all, but that's all I can figure out on my own.

[HeyDace]

The way you describe it, it sounds like valve covers leaking. try snugging them down.

[rixGAphx]

Originally posted by HeyDace
The way you describe it, it sounds like valve covers leaking. try snugging them down.
I agree.

But only snug them a LITTLE, lest you overtighten and thereby distort the cover or gasket and end up with even MORE leakage.

Fresh oil will be brown within a few hundred miles.
What's important is that it doesn't look look like a chocolate milkshake (the appearance when water enters the oil and is 'homogenized' into an emulsion.

-Rick