What You Need To Know about Your Oil Leak

If your engine oil leaks out and causes stains on your garage floor, or on your driveway if you happen to park your vehicle outside overnight, it can be irritating.  Before you think about taking the car to a garage, maybe you should have a quick look  to see what type of oil leak you have.

To figure out exactly where the oil leak is coming from put a sheet of cardboard or an old newspaper underneath the vehicle overnight.   In the morning, look for spots on the newspaper. If you are able to see where oil is leaking from it may be easy to determine whether it is trickling down from another place above.   If you suspect that this is the case, open the hood or go beneath and shine a  flashlight.

How to Inspect For an Oil Leak

• Start your car and run it for a few minutes.
• Turn the engine off and let it cool for ten minutes or so.
• Carefully inspect the engine compartment and check for leaks. Common places to check would be the valve covers, the oil filter, or the oil pan (underneath your car). Each of those locations would indicate a bad gasket or seal. Oil can also leak out from the front seal, between the transmission and engine. Remember, oil is put in your car to lubricate the engine and its components. The only way it is going to drip out is if a gasket or seal fails or in the worst case scenario, you have a crack in one of the engine’s components.

Types of  Oil Leaks

1. Leaks in Your Valve Cover

2. Drain Plug Leak

3. Oil Sender Leaks

4. Oil Filter Leaks

5. Seal Leaks

How to detect an Oil Leak

It’s quite possible that you won’t be able to notice you have an issue with leaking oil until one day you walk into the garage when your car is not there.   You’ll discover a mess on the floor which is approximately the same place as you happen to park the vehicle.

The first thing that you need to do when you determine that you have oil leak problems in your car is to find out exactly where they are coming from.   A tried and tested way of doing this is to get a large sheet of cardboard and place it underneath the vehicle overnight. The following day has a look under there without moving the cardboard, and you will be able to tell exactly where it’s dripping from.

If you had some work done on your vehicle recently, it’s possible that some of the components were not put back together properly. Another possibility is that the oil pan was removed for service and wasn’t reinstalled properly.  One more reason is the gasket isn’t tightened to prevent oil coming out under pressure.

It’s often difficult to determine exactly where the problem is coming from and it may be better for you to have access to jack to raise the vehicle up in the first place.

Clean Up

You don’t have to live with a particular oil leak problem causing stains on your floor any longer. You should know that there are specific products available to put beneath your vehicle to help you. Look for oil absorbent pads, excellent choices when it comes to getting rid of that evidence.

How to Stop Oil leak

On occasion, fixing an oil leaks can be as simple as  tightening a bolt.  Remember that when oil is cold, as it is first thing in the morning, it is less fluid, but when it heats up, it tends to become a lot thinner and can leak from smaller holes as a consequence.

In your auto parts store, you will be able to get one of those products that help you to seal leaks from the inside out. Then, all you need to do is to add it when you top up your oil, and it will coat the inside of the lines and prevent the oil from coming out through those small holes.

In Concllusion

Always remember that while you assume that your oil consumption is due to an oil leak, it could be to do with an internal engine issue.  To find out if this is the case leave the engine running for a while and then have a look at the exhaust pipe behind. When the engine is warm, and you can see spots of oil coming from the exhaust pipe, you need to set up an appointment with your qualified mechanic.