My 87 Vette is leaking oil and I've been trying to find a descent repair shop in the Baltimore area, but haven't had luck. Anybody know of a good shop in the area? I'd love to get it fixed so I can enjoy it over the summer It's painful to be out on a beautiful day and not be able to enjoy the car.

 

fix it yourself. any oil leak should be easy unless it is the pan, timing seal or the rear main seal.
Chances are, it is a oil sender that screws in, and remove the wire connector,unscrew the old one, screw the new one in the old one's place, reinstall the wire connector.... The rocker cover leaks are even easier.
Get a good flashlight, and a jack, and get after it.

 

Where is it leaking oil?

 

From looking at it, both by myself and with a friend of mine who is a mechanic and is unfamiliar with the engine, it is leaking from the top, behind the intake manifold. I really am not 100% sure because I haven't had time to get to the shop and take the intake off.

 

Uh oh! That is actually a pretty typical POF (point of failure) for oil leaks, especially if the car has sat undriven for long periods of time. Given enough miles/years, the RTV that seals the back of the intake breaks down so it is fairly common to get a leaky intake manifold.

I have never fixed mine myself (but I have had it done by my Chevy dealer), and it is not a job for the faint of heart! It is also pretty expensive. The last time I had it done, it cost me $750 (but they also replaced the valve cover gaskets at the same time).

As a side note, my service writer took us for a ride in his new boat shortly after I had the work done! Coincidence???

 

Have you found the dealer to be pretty reliable? I've always been skeptical about using them because I never really had any good experiences with them. I also feel like they might not diagnose it right, which is why I was hoping to find a specialty shop.

 

I have found my dealer to be quite reliable. Maybe I am just being naïve, but as far as diagnosing issues, these are the guys with Chevrolet factory training so I tend to believe (or at least want to believe) that they will spend less time making a correct diagnosis than an independent shop.

Also, I live in (what used to be) a somewhat rural area and these guys seem to have a different attitude than some of those "big city" dealers. I regularly see people from the dealership, including the owners, shopping at the same stores in town as I do. The biggest problem is that they only have a limited number of mechanics certified to work on Corvettes so I am really screwed if they ever leave! As a matter of fact, my car is in the shop now (gee, there's a surprise!) and the mechanic couldn't work on in Friday because he had to day off. Why? He was at the Jimmy Buffett concert Thursday night!

I also used to take my 1999 Jeep Cherokee to the local Chrysler dealership until they lost their dealership during Chrysler's bankruptcy. I firmly believe that taking it there is one of the reasons it has over 250,000 miles on it. There are other dealerships in the area, but there's nothing like having one it town.

OK, I will get off my soapbox... for now!

 

Unfortunately, most of the dealers in my area are more big business, and have never really done a great job, but I haven't actually had any reliability issues other than the radio antenna motor breaking, so now it is just up permanently. Only other major issue was the exhaust going bad while my dad still took care of the car, took it to the dealer without my permission, and to no surprise, they did a terrible job with it. It works fine, but the pipes coming out of the back aren't straight, looks terrible. I'll still consider having them look at it, but based on what you said above, it'll be expensive anywhere i take it.

 

I know this is OT (off topic), but there is no excuse for you to pay a shop and get unacceptable results. The way I look at it, I take my car to get fixed because:
a) I don't know what's wrong with it.
b) I know what's wrong with it, but I don't know how to fix it.
c) I do know how to fix it, but I do not have the:
1) The tools necessary to fix it myself.
2) The time necessary to fix it myself.
3) The inclination to fix it myself. Sometimes I just want to take it someplace and have it fixed. I maintain heavy industrial machinery 5 days a week (or more) and sometimes the last thing I want to do in my spare time (whatever that is?) is work on more machinery.

I realize that I will pay more by taking my car to someone else to do the work for me, but in return, I expect to get the repair done properly. That is the expectation my customers have of me when I fix their stuff and that is always the expectation I have when I take my vehicles to a shop, espcially when I take my Corvette to a GM dealership. If its not right, I take it back! Its just that simple.

Because of my loyalty, my dealership gives me their fleet rate on labor, even when I bring in my own parts. It is not unusual for the service writer to tell me to buy the part somewhere else!

The bottom line is that if I want someone to learn how to fix my car, then I will take it to the high school auto shop, but when I want my car fixed right, I take it to the dealership. Maybe I'm an idiot (you've been talking to my wife again, haven't you?), but my '91 still runs like the day it left Bowling Green.

[/RANT] OFF

 

Those are all the reason's I ever take my in to a shop. Glad to hear your '91 runs so well, I'm hoping to get my '87 back up and running again soon.

 

Sounds like the typical intake gasket leak. But could also be that sensor thing behind the distributor.

You could clean up the back. Then later on check to see if that RTV squeezing out the back intake looks wet.

I wouldn't take it to the dealer just because they over charge for everything. Last I had them price labor on something, it was double than other shops.

I'd just check around and see if you can find someone who knows how to replace an intake gasket. Also, you need to figure out what sealant you want to use for the front and rear of the block. I've heard of people using The Right Stuff. Some have replaced that gasket, then the sealant starts leaking again a few years later.

Some also dimple the front and rear of the block where that sealant goes.

 

Sounds like the intake manifold gaskets. I did mine on my LT1 last year. You could probably do it yourself but from what I understand it's a much harder job on an L98 than it is on an LT1.

If you want to try a local shop try these guys:

Corvette Specialties of MD
info@CorvetteSpecialtiesofMD.com
1912 Liberty Road
Eldersburg, Maryland 21784
410-795-3180

They did some work for me last year and they seemed to have done a pretty good job. I got them as a recommendation from someone on CF in the NE Regional and Events section. Personally I don't trust dealers.

Good luck

 

Any chance someone who has removed the intake on their TPI 350 has taken a picture that shows what is leaking on my car?

 

I've never done business with Corvette Specialties, but a friend of mine has, and he's been pleased with what they've done for him.

Many of the members of my club get their Vettes serviced at Sport Chevrolet, in Silver Spring. If I recall correctly, the name of the Corvette specialist there is Frank Steiner, and I've heard good things about him, but I've never done business there.

The only shop I've tried to do business with is Tony's Corvette Shop in Gaithersburg, and I had results that varied from quite satisfactory to quite unsatisfactory there.

For the past five years, I've been doing all of my own work on both of my C4s. It's sometimes hard to find the time for it, but it saves a lot of disappointment (and a lot of cash).

Live well,

SJW

 

Hey all,
Thanks for all your help! I took it to a Corvette shop where we put it on the lift. Spotted a couple different leaks, so I'm going to clean off the engine and find the leak that is causing me the most trouble. Hopefully its not the rear main!

 

Where did you end up taking it to?

 

I ended up taking it to Corvette Specialties MD, they were extremely helpful, actually put it on the lift and let me look at it with him. Didn't even charge me for the inspection and gave me great advice. I guess it makes sense though since when I find the leak I'll likely take it there. Also got to see a beautiful early C3 convertible. I love Corvettes