Sudden and fast oil leak
12-22-2011 | 07:14 PM
#16
Rennlist Member
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 3,052
Likes: 4
A given engine is designed to run on X quantity of oil. The engine is filled to X+N capacity (N=unknown quantity of motor oil). Shortly after it is filled with X+N quantity, engine begins leaking oil. Prescription: verify, before proceeding with any other diagnoses, that quantity of oil in engine is within the designated range.
12-22-2011 | 07:30 PM
#17
Drifting
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 2,423
Likes: 33
From: Hannover
It appears to be quite a quantity of oil. If the pan "overfills" it is typically not a small valve cover leak but we are speculating again. Get the cover off (and watch for a quantity of oil in there) and locate the origin.
12-22-2011 | 07:31 PM
#18
Nordschleife Master
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 5,297
Likes: 6
From: Deep Downtown Carrier, OK
A given engine is designed to run on X quantity of oil. The engine is filled to X+N capacity (N=unknown quantity of motor oil). Shortly after it is filled with X+N quantity, engine begins leaking oil. Prescription: verify, before proceeding with any other diagnoses, that quantity of oil in engine is within the designated range.
No need to be pedantic at all.
Last edited by KaiB; 12-22-2011 at 08:50 PM.
12-22-2011 | 07:42 PM
#19
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 16,523
Likes: 82
From: Bend, OR
So I'm wondering- when you added oil, did you fill too fast, and some ended up overflowing in the tray? Seems like the likeliest to me.
Also, you over-filled a couple of weeks ago, and already had to add oil again? These cars shouldn't use that much oil. Unless you drove thousands of miles.
Also, you over-filled a couple of weeks ago, and already had to add oil again? These cars shouldn't use that much oil. Unless you drove thousands of miles.
12-23-2011 | 10:05 AM
#21
Nordschleife Master
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 5,297
Likes: 6
From: Deep Downtown Carrier, OK
I tend to agree with Ed on this one. An overfill will not promulgate an engine leak until severe lockup occurs - and long before that point symptoms should have been recognized.
12-23-2011 | 10:40 AM
#22
Rennlist Member
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,115
Likes: 26
From: Gig Harbor, WA still the great NW!
When someone says it never leaked before and has an engine tray still in place I always wonder if its leaked slightly for some time but the tray collected the leak and the driver never noticed. just a thought. these cars often seep a bit of oil given their age (not just mileage) valve covers and timing chain covers are the first place to start. good luck with the search!
12-23-2011 | 11:48 AM
#23
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 818
Likes: 8
From: Near St Louis
No dog in this fight, but since everyone else is speculating I'll add my experience with an overfill when I first bought my car.
An overfill will not add more oil to the "pan", there is no oil pan, this is a dry sump engine. The extra oil is in the oil tank and will be forced through the breather into the intake where it will then collect and leak from the intake manifold, be burned through the engine and ,IMO, contribute to carbon buildup in the ports and combustion chamber helping clog the exhaust ports. This is just an opinion but I think the reason some people do not suffer from the SAI problems as early as others is because they don't overfill the car and the ports don't clog until the guides wear out. If you keep the oil at the top of the dipstick IMO it is overfull, especially in the winter months.
My car (along with others that have posted similar results) will "burn/use" oil down to the halfway point on the dipstick then it will stay there until the next oil change. I tried keeping it at the full mark when I got it but then noticed oil dripping from the intake. Disassembled and cleaned the intake and now keep it at the halfway mark and the intake has stayed oil free.
Your leak probably has little to do with the overfill and more to do with a combination of leaks over time.
Pull the tray and have a look. (my god I agree with QC
)
An overfill will not add more oil to the "pan", there is no oil pan, this is a dry sump engine. The extra oil is in the oil tank and will be forced through the breather into the intake where it will then collect and leak from the intake manifold, be burned through the engine and ,IMO, contribute to carbon buildup in the ports and combustion chamber helping clog the exhaust ports. This is just an opinion but I think the reason some people do not suffer from the SAI problems as early as others is because they don't overfill the car and the ports don't clog until the guides wear out. If you keep the oil at the top of the dipstick IMO it is overfull, especially in the winter months.
My car (along with others that have posted similar results) will "burn/use" oil down to the halfway point on the dipstick then it will stay there until the next oil change. I tried keeping it at the full mark when I got it but then noticed oil dripping from the intake. Disassembled and cleaned the intake and now keep it at the halfway mark and the intake has stayed oil free.
Your leak probably has little to do with the overfill and more to do with a combination of leaks over time.
Pull the tray and have a look. (my god I agree with QC
)
12-23-2011 | 12:17 PM
#24
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 16,523
Likes: 82
From: Bend, OR
I've only seen the word pan used once here, most are using the word tray, which he still looks to have in place.
He mentions specifically that it is not smoking. One would assume, IMO, that no oil got ingested into the intake.
He mentions specifically that it is not smoking. One would assume, IMO, that no oil got ingested into the intake.
No dog in this fight, but since everyone else is speculating I'll add my experience with an overfill when I first bought my car.
An overfill will not add more oil to the "pan", there is no oil pan, this is a dry sump engine. The extra oil is in the oil tank and will be forced through the breather into the intake where it will then collect and leak from the intake manifold, be burned through the engine and ,IMO, contribute to carbon buildup in the ports and combustion chamber helping clog the exhaust ports. This is just an opinion but I think the reason some people do not suffer from the SAI problems as early as others is because they don't overfill the car and the ports don't clog until the guides wear out. If you keep the oil at the top of the dipstick IMO it is overfull, especially in the winter months.
My car (along with others that have posted similar results) will "burn/use" oil down to the halfway point on the dipstick then it will stay there until the next oil change. I tried keeping it at the full mark when I got it but then noticed oil dripping from the intake. Disassembled and cleaned the intake and now keep it at the halfway mark and the intake has stayed oil free.
Your leak probably has little to do with the overfill and more to do with a combination of leaks over time.
Pull the tray and have a look. (my god I agree with QC)
An overfill will not add more oil to the "pan", there is no oil pan, this is a dry sump engine. The extra oil is in the oil tank and will be forced through the breather into the intake where it will then collect and leak from the intake manifold, be burned through the engine and ,IMO, contribute to carbon buildup in the ports and combustion chamber helping clog the exhaust ports. This is just an opinion but I think the reason some people do not suffer from the SAI problems as early as others is because they don't overfill the car and the ports don't clog until the guides wear out. If you keep the oil at the top of the dipstick IMO it is overfull, especially in the winter months.
My car (along with others that have posted similar results) will "burn/use" oil down to the halfway point on the dipstick then it will stay there until the next oil change. I tried keeping it at the full mark when I got it but then noticed oil dripping from the intake. Disassembled and cleaned the intake and now keep it at the halfway mark and the intake has stayed oil free.
Your leak probably has little to do with the overfill and more to do with a combination of leaks over time.
Pull the tray and have a look. (my god I agree with QC
)
07-25-2015 | 03:50 PM
#25
Instructor
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 199
Likes: 0
From: DFW
I've noticed a sudden oil leak - meaning the engine never leaked a single drop up to 50,000 miles - and then one day after coming home from the shop I noticed small amounts of oil on the garage floor.
Two things happened concurrently which may have contributed to this and I'm looking for advice. The first thing is the shop visit where they checked my AC out, adding some refrigerant I believe. The very first leaking began for sure when I parked it after this visit.
The other thing that happened a week or two before this is that I overfilled the oil. I was concerned about that and I read the posts about this, but felt there was little risk in problems, so I didn't suck any oil out - just let it ride.
So now the leak is pretty substantial. The engine cover looks oily with oil leaking from more than one of the holes. There is no smoking or much smell of burning oil out of the ordinary. In the bottom picture, the oil in the foreground is from a 24 hour period, after taking the car out, warming it up yesterday, adding oil to end of twist on dipstick and then parking overnight. The older "puddle" is from about 3 months not being driven.
How bad might this be? How minimal might this be? Merry Christmas to me right?
Two things happened concurrently which may have contributed to this and I'm looking for advice. The first thing is the shop visit where they checked my AC out, adding some refrigerant I believe. The very first leaking began for sure when I parked it after this visit.
The other thing that happened a week or two before this is that I overfilled the oil. I was concerned about that and I read the posts about this, but felt there was little risk in problems, so I didn't suck any oil out - just let it ride.
So now the leak is pretty substantial. The engine cover looks oily with oil leaking from more than one of the holes. There is no smoking or much smell of burning oil out of the ordinary. In the bottom picture, the oil in the foreground is from a 24 hour period, after taking the car out, warming it up yesterday, adding oil to end of twist on dipstick and then parking overnight. The older "puddle" is from about 3 months not being driven.
How bad might this be? How minimal might this be? Merry Christmas to me right?
Chuck
