Saga continues of the c5 I purchased 3 months ago. Just keep on taking hits these past few weeks. Not just the car but it is certainly the cherry on top. Motor runs great (107k) but here we are with a huge bill. Hard to believe the dealer I got it from didn’t clean it off and claim no issues. How reasonable does this look to y’all? Got about 20 in her including purchase price, brand new wheels/tires and I love the car but considering selling at this point. Don’t want to because I know I will lose probably 30% what I have in it at the very least and may not be able to get another one anytime soon if at all. Saw myself keeping to hand down to my son. It’s only seeping a little maybe a couple drops a day but I know it’s inevitable and it’s just been nothing but a struggle. Still needs a little weatherstripping work but not a big deal. Paint needs to be done sometime as well. Found someone local who does good work for 3k. Not show quality. But good. Thanks for any input.

 

Don't walk, run away. Changing the front seal with no mention of the harmonic balancer, a common problem with these cars. I'd be looking for a second opinion or make it a money pit like many do.

 

All of those things are leading oil? I think the labor is high. You should replace the damper if it's never been done before. I'd skip the knock sensors and harness.

 

It's leaking oil out of pretty much every single place that can be leaked?

At 107k miles?

I am going to politely claim... this seems unlikely. Of course it is possible. But somewhat unlikely.

For one thing, I would generally ignore a small leak out of the pan gasket. It's a 20 year old car... so if it drips a couple drops a day, throw a half quart in every couple months or whatever. Pan gasket is on the bottom, nothing is really gonna get ruined by it leaking.

More to the point, if the engine has a bunch of oil on the outside from a long time of little drips, I would start by giving the thing a really good clean. Then you can start diagnosing where it's actually leaking from and how much it matters.

 

thanks buddy. I brought up the balancer.. said no issues..

 

that’s what they’re saying. I did the best diagnosis that I could with the situation I’m in. I honestly thought it was just a drain plug because of how slow it is. The motor definitely has oil buildup on the front end of it. I’m very new to this and I am slightly mechanically inclined but I guess I wasn’t inclined enough to notice before hand. I feel like an idiot

 

what damper? I’m sorry.. obviously I’m in way over my head. I can do an oil change and replace a battery and a few other things. But this car is a different beast. I can’t even get under it. I’ve got a jack and some jackstands but still I feel like I can’t do half this work

 

It's not that uncommon to see at those miles.
The oil pan fix is a pain because they have to lift the engine.
and if pulling the balancer, I'd replace it

 

I'd ignore everything until it actually became a problem. Take the $4.5K and take a trip to Europe.

Change the oil and start driving it. The seals may tighten up. They may be dried out from non-use. 107K miles in over 20 years means this thing spent lots of time sitting.

 

lspowah - Look - your car is leaking a little oil. OK - not great, but hardly the end of the world. If the leakage is really slow as you seem to be seeing, live with it for a while. A quart of oil runs less than $10.

I'm betting that $4,800 estimate came from a dealership. If I were you - I'd look for an Independent place that works on Vettes regularly. They should be substantially less expensive. You don't need special factory tools for the work being shown on the invoice. I haven't done the jobs listed on a C5, but $3,000 in labor to deal with some oil leaks is pretty hard to swallow. Look elsewhere.

And don't beat yourself up - I would not consider oil leakage to be that big an issue with a used car. I'd be much more concerned with other stuff.

 

The terms harmonic balancer and damper are interchangeable.

 

OP, here's the story on the harmonic balancer.

That big main "pulley" that sits on the front of the engine and spins all your accessories (one belt for AC, one belt for power steering and alternator, essentially) - that pulley is not a solid piece of metal, but it has a rubber-type component to it. This is because, as the engine spins and air-fuel combusts, there's a bit of a jitter effect. This jitter effect is mitigated by the harmonic balancer, or damper, which is part of that big pulley.

To get to the front main seal, you would want to remove this component. If you're gonna remove it, we're talking like 5+ hours of labor, so you may as well spend the extra couple hundred bucks to replace it, because this component is known to fail. The factory-spec ones weren't great, and could sometimes go as early as 40-50k miles, and generally had to be replaced by 100k. At 107k, it's either been replaced or it's likely on the way to failure, and it's not always possible to tell... so while you're in there, just replace it. (And pin it, while you're at it - which means drilling two small holes to act as keys to prevent it from rotating on the crank, to which it is bolted.)

Any time there's a repair ticket with a big labor bill, always research what else to replace while you're in there. Often the incremental cost is very very little.

 

I would check if the oil pressure sensor is leaking since it can leak onto the valley pan. $1000 for the valley pan gasket. That's really expensive. The gaskets are like $30 and couple of hours of labor.

 

You should 100% change the PCV hose assembly. It’s a hose system that wraps around the back of the LS1 engine. The LS6 is much simpler.

The LS1 PCV is known to get coked up from burnt oil and fail... that leads to crankcase pressure buildup and the 1st gaskets to give up are oil pan and around the rear cover. Yours is ripe. If you don’t change the PCV hose assembly you will have oil leaks again in short order after the initial fix.

 

Get a second opinion!
Preferably from a private shop that knows C5s.
In the meantime, how much oil is leaking over a thousand miles? If it is not enough to cause the engine to get low on oil- ignore the seeps and just keep it topped off. If it is more, keep the engine topped off by routine checking as needed and otherwise ignore.
Use full synthetic oil.
LS engines are mechanically robust unless you let it get low on oil or overheat.

 

Some really good advice in the thread, especially when it comes to getting a second opinion from a good independent shop. Moving this to C5 Tech for further discussion.

 

1st thing I do to fix a leak is use a rag and call it good unless its more than a slow drip or seep.
The seal of the harmonic balancer could be leaking and running down making it look like the oil pan.
The PVC system could have a problem and if it is fixed the leaks could stop.

I have one person that I sort of trust to work on my cars and I only sort of trust him. They take me into the shop and show me the problem and ask are you going to fix it or us.

If you can get a good set of ramps or low profile jack and start wiping.

 

If you are replacing the front main seal, then 110% replace the harmonic balancer regardless.

 

Good advise provided by forum members. If it were me, I would start with a good cleaning of the engine and the oil pan area. I would drain the oil and replace with Mobil 1 High Mileage Full Synthetic Oil along with a quality oil filter. I use the WIX brand. The Mobil 1 High Mileage Oil has extra additives that help with swelling and reconditioning the seals and gaskets. This may help to stop or slow down oil leaks. You have nothing to lose trying this as it is inexpensive. You may also want to check and make sure your oil pan bolts are torqued to the proper specs. They could of loosened over time.

 

To bad you do not have your location in your avatar, many times a close by member is more than willing to help. Your problems are not the first we have ever seen and often there are several different solutions to solve your problem. Normally the front oil seal does not leak unless the balancer has been replaced and who ever did the job did not do the seal at that time. There was a recent article about a product that helps expand old seals and stops or controls oil leaks, etc.