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Slight oil leak

12K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  Davec2008 
#1 ·
Recently I noticed that my car (2009 Impala LTZ, 3.9 engine, 115k miles) leaves a small oil drip if parked overnight. I cannot see where the oil is leaking from, valve cover gaskets appear in good shape. The oil appear to be dripping from the oil pan area but I did not notice anything wet around the oil pan gasket. Are these engines known for some usual oil leak point after 100k miles or so?


I hope this is not a beginning of the rear main seal leak which requires transaxle removal to fix. Are these engines notorious for either for crank seal or rear main seal leaks?
 
#4 ·
Recently I noticed that my car (2009 Impala LTZ, 3.9 engine, 115k miles) leaves a small oil drip if parked overnight. I cannot see where the oil is leaking from, valve cover gaskets appear in good shape. The oil appear to be dripping from the oil pan area but I did not notice anything wet around the oil pan gasket. Are these engines known for some usual oil leak point after 100k miles or so?
If you changed the oil filter shortly before noticing this drip, feel around the base of your filter to see if its wet. Mine is a 3.6L, but it developed a drip around the filter base after I installed a K&N oil filter. Swapping the filter out for a Bosch cured the leak. The K&N either had a bad gasket or it just wouldn't seat properly even though it was the correct part according to the cross-reference table.

Cheers!

T-

 
#5 ·
Yes, this is known as the infamous "GM leak" to occur around 100k on GM brand vehicles. Some get lucky if your in a cool dry environment
Its gaskets and o-rings on fluid lines
Most people replace the transmission line o-rings, trans pan gasket, oil pan gasket and any orings associated with these fluids
and that should fix it
I wouldn't say the rear seal is a common culprit but its been known to happen

There is a recall on the old 3800 engines to replace the valve cover gaskets after oil has leaked onto the exhaust and started a fire
 
#7 ·
I guess you mean "oil filter housing" gasket. Yes, I heard that is a common problem. I suppose I will replace mine to see if it fixes the oil leak issue. The cost of the gasket is about $ 11 and it should be easy to change.
 
#8 ·
I just did the oil filter housing gasket on my 2008 3.5. Fairly simple and takes around an hour or so. Cleaned up my leak at 126,000 miles, looked like it was the original gasket with broken metal piece in it. But hopefully you don't have to change the oil pan gasket, that is a major job, as you need to hoist the engine, remove the lower engine mount, and get a special tool to reach the back oil pan bolts hidden by the transmission.
Dave
 
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