Sudden massive oil leak
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 14,581
Likes: 10
From: City of Turbo Buicks in Corvette County FL
Sudden massive oil leak
***Update*** It's power steering fluid. Shot out all over the passenger side all the way to the caliper and on the shock etc. The engine is bone dry, not a drop of oil leaking. Looks like it is coming out of the long tube with a boot on it... Makes sense because this car has always eaten power steering fluid and I never saw it leak a drop...
Drove the 01 Z06 yesterday for a few minutes, got home and saw a puddle of oil after I parked it in the driveway to wipe off the bugs. It has never dripped or leaked at all, ever, its been bone dry until yesterday. Would a front seal be the likely problem. It appears to come from directly below the A/C compressor and covers the passenger frame and half of the leaf spring. Next weekend I'll have time to get under the car and see if its definitely the front seal. I don't know of any other culprits in that area other than a cracked block
Drove the 01 Z06 yesterday for a few minutes, got home and saw a puddle of oil after I parked it in the driveway to wipe off the bugs. It has never dripped or leaked at all, ever, its been bone dry until yesterday. Would a front seal be the likely problem. It appears to come from directly below the A/C compressor and covers the passenger frame and half of the leaf spring. Next weekend I'll have time to get under the car and see if its definitely the front seal. I don't know of any other culprits in that area other than a cracked block
Last edited by TurboTnZ06; Jun 19, 2010 at 01:50 PM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,798
Likes: 8
From: It's true money can't buy happiness, but it is more comfortable crying in a Corvette than on a bicyc
St. Jude Donor '13
I was gonna guess oil sender unit but it's in the back. Since it's passenger front I'll go with front seal, intake valley pan gasket, or timing cover. Cracked blocks just don't happen on their own.
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 14,581
Likes: 10
From: City of Turbo Buicks in Corvette County FL
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Corvette Engines RANKED by Peak Torque (70+ Years of Muscle!)
Joe Kucinski
Corvette ZR1X Will Be Pacing the Indy 500, And Could Probably Race, Too!
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Corvettes Coming to Mecum Indy 2026!
Brett Foote
Top 10 C9 Corvette MUST-HAVES to Fix These C8 Generation Flaws!
Michael S. Palmer
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,266
Likes: 8
From: Indian Rocks Beach FL
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10
Zip Products in Richmond, VA has the best price on a steering rack by a half. Don't worry about the quality, they are good. Many members here have used them with no problems. I've had one on my car for over a year now.
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 36,836
Likes: 244
From: Dear Karma, I have a list of people you missed.
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16
Check your rubber P/S hoses, ESPECIALLY the small 2 1/4" (approx) rubber hose going into your P/S oil cooler. It's right at the front and fairly easy to get to and to see from underneath the car.
Tip: if it IS this small hose leaking, you do NOT have to replace your entire oil cooler assembly. The small hose I mentioned above is factory crimped on by two small perma-crimp type hose clamps. Just cut these two small clamps off, remove the hose and replace with some 5/16" ID fuel hose (NOT regular rubber hose) and use two small screw clamps (I used 4 actually - two on each end) and you're back in business. That hose is part of the return system and is not under a lot of pressure like the high pressure side is.
Good luck.
Tip: if it IS this small hose leaking, you do NOT have to replace your entire oil cooler assembly. The small hose I mentioned above is factory crimped on by two small perma-crimp type hose clamps. Just cut these two small clamps off, remove the hose and replace with some 5/16" ID fuel hose (NOT regular rubber hose) and use two small screw clamps (I used 4 actually - two on each end) and you're back in business. That hose is part of the return system and is not under a lot of pressure like the high pressure side is.
Good luck.
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 11,150
Likes: 890
From: South Western Ontario
It sounds like you mean the big boot on the end of the rack. If so, that means you need to change the rack.
What happened is the seal at the end of the rack leaks and slowly fills the boot. When you turn hard left it compresses the right boot. Once the boot and end of the rack fills up with enough oil, the boot can't compress down enough without pushing the oil out somewhere. If it's leaking slowly you could drain the boot and put the boot back on. It would likely go the whole summer without doing it again.
My car did the same thing on the drivers side. It actually turned the end of the boot inside out where the clamp for the tie rod was supposed to be. I drove it 2 summers and just let it leak a bit because it only needed the oil filled once about every 10k miles. When I changed the rack, I pulled the boot off the passenger side and it had a bunch of oil in it too.
Peter
What happened is the seal at the end of the rack leaks and slowly fills the boot. When you turn hard left it compresses the right boot. Once the boot and end of the rack fills up with enough oil, the boot can't compress down enough without pushing the oil out somewhere. If it's leaking slowly you could drain the boot and put the boot back on. It would likely go the whole summer without doing it again.
My car did the same thing on the drivers side. It actually turned the end of the boot inside out where the clamp for the tie rod was supposed to be. I drove it 2 summers and just let it leak a bit because it only needed the oil filled once about every 10k miles. When I changed the rack, I pulled the boot off the passenger side and it had a bunch of oil in it too.
Peter
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 14,581
Likes: 10
From: City of Turbo Buicks in Corvette County FL
Only the boot is wet, the cooler hoses are dry. A new rack is in my future....
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,266
Likes: 8
From: Indian Rocks Beach FL
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,266
Likes: 8
From: Indian Rocks Beach FL
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10
I know. It's so cheap it gave me pause when I did mine so I started a thread on here to see if anyone had any experience with them and got nothing but positive feedback. Mine came in a box from Lonestar, which funny enough is the same company I bought weatherstriping from for my C4.