Should my car still be leaking motor oil???

Question

I just had a valve cover gasket and an oil pan gasket fixed last week dew to an oil leak, but I noticed over the weekend that my car was still leaking a little bit of oil. It's less, but it was still there. Today though, when I looked under the car, there wasn't any leaking oil. What's going on? Is it normal or possible for my car to still leak oil after it was supposed to be fixed and then just stop leaking oil? I should probably take it back to the mechanic but I'm afraid I might make him angry if I make him do all this work just to find out that there really isn't a problem. I mean what if he messes something up and says that's the cause of my still existing oil leak problem and then charges me for it? I worry about this becuase I've heard of these things happening before. I could take it to another mechanic, but obviously I'd get charged for sure. I'm really low budget right now so I'm just wondering what you all think about this problem and what's the best thing to do. Thank you

Answer 1

Take it back to the shop that you had the work done, explain the situation to them, and ask them if they could take a look at it, and if not then, what time would work for both you and the shop. I work in a garage, and every time we reseal an engine, new gaskets, ect. we always ask for the customer to come back in a week or so, when its convienent for them, so we can take a look over our work to make sure the seal held, and to make sure that after the leaks were cured that there wern't any other smaller leaks that were hidden by the larger leaks. About 99% of the time, we pull it in, do our check, and its outside again in 10-20 minutes. But that 1% that is still leaking, either being a faulty gasket, or from another place taht was being covered from another leak, we want to catch and let the customer know. Sometimes, there is residual oil left over, that gets caught in a pocket in the engine, and it takes time for it to work its way out, it may be old oil you're seeing. But, take it back and tell them the situation. If something they did is wrong, they want to know about it to make it right, it may not be on that day, but any self respecting shop, will have a look at it.


EDIT - as to some posts above, Some shops will void a warranty (my shop included) if anything is done other then the technician/shop. If you did not opt, or they did not shampoo the enging and then you go and do it yourself, it may void warranty. Or if you go and retighten bolts that may be lose, warranty void. Let them do all the work and checking, you paid for it after all, why should you have to do a check over on something you paid for, to be done right?

Answer 2

You won''t make the mechanic angry, trust me. Just go there with a civil tongue and mind and explain what you saw. Odds are that it could be a rear main seal or a front seal that could be leaking. Depending on the type of motor you have it could also be an intake gasket leaking. If the mechanic you went to is a well known shop and has been in the area for some time chances are that he will be honest with you. Most of the time it's the customers who fail to understand that gaskets go out at specific times. For example, it's considered normal maintenance to change head gaskets at approxiimately 80,000 to 100,000 miles. Valve cover gaskets go out at about 40,000 miles. Oil pan gaskets right at about 60,000 miles. The list goes on and on. If maintenance is done properly on an automobile engine then the problems can add up and things can go out in groups or all at once. The problems become compounded. So, it's not always the mechanic to blame, sometimes it's how well the car is taken care of. A good mechanic will put the car on a rack, lift the car up in the air, find the leak and point it out to you before any repairs are made.
Hope that helps.

Answer 3

Take it back to mechanic for assessment....he will not get angry. I am sure if his repair did not solve your original problem he will correct this situation at no extra charge to you. Also it is possible that if a leak does exist it could be from a totally different area and not an area your mechanic worked on.Keep your cool...talk to mechanic who did the work to find out the facts and then discuss a plan to correct the situation.( Perhaps the oil you saw after the repair is oil drops from oil that was on engine or frame of car prior to repair. )

Answer 4

Do not drive the car.
Your vehicle may be leaking so bad that it's lost all it's oil that's why when you checked it the second time, you found no leak.
Check your oil level.
The one who replaced the gaskets must have changed the oil and the filter.
Did he put the right filter?
The filter may be loose.
Is the oil drain plug tight and not leaking because of an old seal(ring)?
Take it back to the shop...
Good luck!

Answer 5

If you are referring to the valve covers leaking I had a problem like that. It was corrected by removing the valve covers and placing them on a flat sturdy surface then tapping the screw holes with a flat tipped punch and hammer to remove any minor lip around the screw hole. The lip around the hole is caused by over torquing the screws or removing and replacing the valve covers more that once and will cause the gaskets you are replacing to be damaged and cause them to leak. The lip around the screw hole may be so minor that it cannot be noticed but will cause this problem. Good Luck!

Answer 6

Make sure you clean all the residual oil off the engine with a degrease,then keep an eye on the suspect areas for a while.If you find leaks then return the car to the mechanic.

Answer 7

Give it a couple of more days, it could be just residual oil from when it was originally leaking or when the made the mess fixing it

Answer 8

Vehicles should not leak oil. Take it back to your tech and ask him to address the problem.

Nobody wants comebacks, but a conscientious tech will want to fix mistakes, if any, or repair a new problem. Give him the opportunity to set things right.

Answer 9

you could have a main bearing seal leak or a power stering leak or mabey a transmission oil leak or it could be that the valve cover leaked a lot of oil and it has nor all drained off of your engine yet

Answer 10

take a look at the work that he did....if its leaking from the same place that he fixed then, he should re-do the job bc it wasn't done correctly.
check to see maybe its leaking from somewhere else...ie. your transmission pan? power steering box? CV joints??
once you open the hood you will be able to see if there are any leaks on the engine block.
if its too dirty to know...spend the $3 on a can of engine cleaner/degreaser and spray the whole engine down....it will help you see where the leak is.....good luck