do i NEED a new gasket?

Question

I have a 1994 Saturn SL1. I gave in and went to one of those "chain" oil change stores for the mere convience of it. I had gone over my 3000 mile oil change date and had barely any oil left. Then, the guy that was under my car said i was leaking a lot of oil...that explains the oil stains in my boyfrinds beautiful driveway! I saw it myself and it is defiently leaking, they werent trying to scam me!

So he said i need a new gasket/oilpan and the part is less than $10 (i looked it up) but I know that the labor is expensive. He said i should find a friend that knows cars to do it so it isnt so expensive.

My question is...do i need to do it? At least not for a few months (after the holiday season?) My brother says that i dont have to, i should just check the oil more frequently. Is this true?

I KNOW that the best idea is to do it, but is it TOTALLY mandatory?

Hmm...

...my mechanic said that he can do it for $200. This is less than $1000, but still a lot for christmastime

Answer 1

If it's not leaking too much, your brother is right. It could wait.
However, you should have it done eventually; leaking oil is messing up the environment.

Whether you need a new gasket depends on where it's leaking. Have a "real" mechanic (someone you can trust) look at it.

Answer 2

for the shor term, you can just keep an eye on the oil level, add it as you need. If the leak gets really bad, the oil cost will get expensive to keep adding.

You might get lucky and just need to tighten the oil pan which will re-seal the gasket, this worked on my wife's car and stopped the leak.

Otherwise it will need a new gasket. They can be tough to do, for instance, in my truck, the motor needs to come out to do a pan gasket which means parts and labor aprox $2000. This is an extreme example, but shows both ends of the spectrum.

good luck!

Answer 3

You should check your oil frequently and I would definetly get a new gasket. My car needs new gaskets. With cars older than 2000 you'll run into oil problems a lot if you don't keep everything up. Gaskets help keep all the oil in. Most are cheap and the labor is too if you just look around :)

Answer 4

Its unfortunate that one of the most expensive repairs is a head gasket replacement. The part itself is increadibly inexpensive, but you have to take the entire engine apart to do it.

Resale value on a vehicle with a bad head gasket is pretty bad.

Technically you don't have to replace the gasket if its bad - you could just keep putting in oil to replace what leaks out. This of course is not recommended.

If you have a gearhead friend - then this is the best way to go. Remember - your car probably isn't even worth the amount it would cost to repair... you may consider buying another car.

Answer 5

you can keep checking the oil all the time but I would just fix it. Like the guy said find someone to fix it. It's a very easy fix. drain the oil and drop the oil pan clean off the old gasket and put on the new on and put a few quarts of oil in and your ready to go. When I go jeepin i have smashed the oil pan about 7 times and I can put a new one on in no time.

Answer 6

You can wait it out, but remember:

All that oil leaking can't be good for the environment, so that's a concern. And extra oil costs money, too. (About $2 a quart.)

Also, you have to force yourself to keep remembering to put oil in, and if you forget "just once", you're going to have a bigger problem than this one.

I'd do this cheap fix right now rather than have the headache and a huge repair bill later.

Answer 7

i would be safe to say is either 3 things.your oil plug is leaking,the oil filter is leaking or the oil pan gasket is leaking.before you go buy anything,try this.have someone try tighten the bolts up some.they do work loose over time.yes you should check the oil on a regular basic.dont wait till the light comes on,check it about once a week.

Answer 8

If you want to keep your car running..I would not listen to your brother. Yes filling the oil on a regular basis will help but if you have a problem and want car to last GET IT FIXED! My ex always just patched things and never fixed them we went through dozens of cars.. my husband now takes the time to fix our cars and they stay running smoothly.. dang I drive an 86 cutlass with only 76k miles on it.. do you think a car that old would still be running if it were not well maintained?

Answer 9

I have a similar problem, it is with my coolant system. My head gasket is leaking . All I do is keep making sure the overflow is at a full level and it runs fine, so the same should work with the oil, just make sure you keep topping it up.

Answer 10

You should, but you dont have to. Maybe if you had to clean the oil stains off of your boyfriend's driveway everytime you parked there and your oil leaked this would convince you to have the gasket replaced. :-)