Ok, heres the scoop, I thought I would throw this out to you guys (or gals). Recently I have noticed a spot of oil on my garage floor, I have taken it to a local dealer I dont feel comfortable with just anyone working on it, their mechanic said that it looked like the rear main was seeping a little oil and it also looked like that a corner of the oil pan had a small leak also, He say if it was him he would fix both. The total est. was around $900.00 (ouch!). He said it would be 2 seperate jobs to fix both, so I'm not saving any money having both fixed at the same time other than the price of the oil change. My question is what should I do. 1. do both and bite the $900.00
2. do the Oil pan first around $280.00 see if this fixes my problem.
3. do the rear main first around $600.00 see if this fixes my problem.

I know that there is some people here who maybe have had the same problem. if it was just a little drip I wouldn't worry about it so much , but it drips down and then blows back on my exhaust pipes and when you stop you can smell burning oil,, which I dont like. So folks if you could lend a fellow vette owner your input I would be deeply thankful...

Phillip

 

I would check to see if it's not the oil pressure sender that is leaking and running down the back side on the engine.. but I can't see it so I can't tell you what it is... As far as in which order to do the repairs.. thats a tough one.. If I knew which area had more oil and could look at it I would be able to tell you.. If both are leaking for sure then they should both be repaired as leaks are not going to go away and get better.. NOW it's possible one area is leaking more then the other one may be a seep the other might be a drip..

Either way good luck..
-=Rick

 

I have seen alot of rear mains leak down and make it look like the oil pan had a leak too. I think i would wipe everything down real good and let it sit over night and maybe you will find its just the rear main. Good luck.

 

Thanks guys for your replies, I have replaced the oil pressure sending unit already, so I'm pretty sure its not that, my question is if I wipe it down and let it sit overnite, the rear main wont leak unless it is running is that correct or not, or are you saying if it sits overnite and oil pan doesn't leak then its probable the rear main... But if the oil pan leaks I still can't rule out the possibility that both is not leaking right,, its this correct?

 

Yes

 

They are both not going to leak from just sitting there, they need to be ran and heated up for the oil to circulate, but as allready mentioned, it is very possible that the rear seal will leak first then run down over the Pan and drip to whearever.

Is this a dealership you took it too, or a private business/mechanic.

They are telling you both need to be done, because they are not sure of which one also, covering there ***** and making a little more dough,
Lets see, they quoted 600 hun for the seal, so all the oil is drained allready, and as they have it taken apart to replace the 20 dollar seal, so at lets say $95/hour Dealership rate(varies), thats 6 hours, and 280 for another $20 gasket, and 3 more hours for a oil pan gasket after all the work for replacing the seal has allready been done,OUCH.

Treat your vette like a patient, take it to another Doctor and get a second opinion, How many miles on your Vete and what year.

Spend an hour of your own time if your able to jack up the vehicle and get underneath to invistigate, clean the hell out of the rear area, use some diluted Green Stuff to degrease the area and dry as best as possible(air compressor if available), Run it for a couple days, and recheck it, see if the oil saturation is around both areas Seal/pan gasket below it, The oil isnt going to leak upwards, it will leak downwards, so if the seal and the pan gasket are saturated, I would presume the seal is leaking a dripping down over the pan gasket.

Just my opinion, good luck

 

I agree! Clean everything up real good and take her for a 30 minute spin. Then jack it up and do some investigating. Maybe the oil pan bolts are just a little bit loose! Check that out.

You stated that you already changed out the oil pressure sensor. That would be the very first place I would check!!! All it takes is for the threads on that sensor not to seal just right and you will have oil everywhere!!

The second opinion part seems like a VERY good idea also.

Please keep us posted and let us know how you make out.

Bill Curlee