YACT: car's leaking oil

[NTB]

How difficult of a project would this be? I noticed that the "low oil" light came on in my '95 Buick Regal about a week before I took it in to have the oil changed. I figured it had just burned a little, as old cars tend to do, and didn't worry about it. Took it in and had the oil changed. Now, less than a month - and less than 1,000 miles - later, the light comes on again, and it's a quart low. So I filled it again, and took it back to where I got the oil changed to see what was going on. They told me that the oil-pan gasket needed to be replaced, because that was what was leaking. So I'm going to call a few shops and get a ballpark estimate, but I was wondering how difficult it would be to do myself. The gasket is only ~$40. I realize it might be a little messy - have to drain all the oil before doing the actual repair - but it doesn't sound too hard.

Nate

 

[JulesMaximus]

Depends on whether or not you need to drop the crossmember to get the oil pan off.

 

[Heisenberg]

Yeah, basically it depends on what's in the way. On my GTP for example, you have to drop the cradle to change the pan gasket.

Edit: Misfiring neuron

 

[CrackRabbit]

If I remember the layout correctly from my GFs car its going to be a major pain in the arse to get it off. Are you sure that its just the oil pan that is leaking? My GFs car leaks all over the place too but it has so many miles on it its not worth spending the money to get it fixed.

 

[Pepsi90919]

my 95 taurus' pan was rusted and needed to be replaced, it was about 3 hours labour.

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
If I remember the layout correctly from my GFs car its going to be a major pain in the arse to get it off. Are you sure that its just the oil pan that is leaking? My GFs car leaks all over the place too but it has so many miles on it its not worth spending the money to get it fixed.

I'd have to get under it and look; I'm just going off what the guy told me. The car is 10 years old, but it's only got about 61,000 miles on it - belonged to my grandfather's neighbor before we bought it, and had been more or less sitting for the last few years because he was too ill to drive.

Nate

 

[CrackRabbit]

Originally posted by: NTB

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
If I remember the layout correctly from my GFs car its going to be a major pain in the arse to get it off. Are you sure that its just the oil pan that is leaking? My GFs car leaks all over the place too but it has so many miles on it its not worth spending the money to get it fixed.

I'd have to get under it and look; I'm just going off what the guy told me. The car is 10 years old, but it's only got about 61,000 miles on it - belonged to my grandfather's neighbor before we bought it, and had been more or less sitting for the last few years because he was too ill to drive.

Nate

If that is the case its very likely that the oil is leaking from somewhere else, without being driven the seals can dry up rather quickly. If you take care of it the car will last you a long time. With the exception of the leaking oil and broken A/C my GFs car is still going strong at 184k 🙂.

 

[Rumpltzer]

Yeah, I remember there being a cross-member in the way on my 87 S10.

How much do you care for this car? Perhaps carrying a case of very cheap oil in the trunk is your best (read cheapest and easiest) solution?

If you can't get the pan OFF, you might half-ass it by dropping the pan as much as you can and installing the gasket with a cut in it.... it's going to really, really suck, though, as you try to scrape off the old gasket without dropping the crumbs into the oil pan.

You could also try attacking the leak with RTV as a last ditch effort. 😀