Fresh leak

So I just had my car's oil changed from conventional to synthetic as that's what's recommended in my model's book for the winter.

Noticed these small oil drips now on the road where I park my car at night, definitely new.

I am thinking it's from the synthetic oil destroying any sludge in my car (1992 lesabre, 316000km) and letting the new oil leak.

Can anyone speculate upon this for me please?

Should I take my car to the shop or try a "leak stop" additive in my car's oil?

Thanks!

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According to your wording, sounds like you didn't do the oil change yourself. The person/shop who did might not have used a crush washer or something alike on your drain plug.

Look under the car, is it coming from the drain plug? Make sure the plug is tight. If it's not, you need a crush washer. It'll stop the leaks.

I did not do the change, no. I am a car dweeb.

From what I could see when I looked tonight I couldn't say for certain that the oil was coming from the drain pipe. I'll look again in the morning. Is it easy to put in a crush washer?

Thanks for replying.

It will only cause leaks from it destroy sludge if there was already a source of a leak that the sludge was plugging.

Check the oil filter nor the drain plug is leaking. Hopefully it is one of the two. Otherwise it's gonna be a no fun situation.

In addendum to what this user said, most quick change oil shops and not-by-the-book mechanics will not replace the crush washer. This is normally not an issue but not good practice.

99% chance something is not tight enough, either the drain plug or the oil filter. Check your oil level and make sure it's not too low. If it is you need to top it off and take it straight to a mechanic. Or you can check and tighten the plug and filter yourself if you think you can. And do not put stop leak additives into your oil, it's just not a good idea. Especially for something that's easily fixed like in your case

Thank you. I'll check the levels tomorrow and check out the oil filter and drain plug to see if they're leaking.

What sort of charges am I looking at if I go to a mechanic and ask to get a crush washer installed ?

Most likely won't be too much, those crush washers cost next to nothing and are pretty easy to install

>And do not put stop leak additives into your oil

Extend this logic to all parts of your car. All that crap does is clog up whatever systems it gets poured into.

It does stop the leak...and also cuts out most of the flow.

Thank you.

Noted.


I'll try and get a look at the filter and drain tomorrow morning, before work. The service sheet says the oil filter was changed with a PH47 which I think is suitable for a 92 Lesabre?

Am I going to need a wrench or something to tighten the drain or make sure the filter is screwed in properly ?

You'll need a wrench for the drain plug but the filter can just be hand tight

Thanks!

I don't know exactly to how much effect but I do know that switching from non synthetic to synthetic oil after prolonged non synthetic use can cause shit to leak.

Personally I would do what the others are sayin but if it doesn't help then for the love of God don't pour that gunk in your car.

If the cause is simply from changing to synthetic, what options do I have? Just swap back to conventional ?

That or find where the leak is coming from. If its a gasket or some sort of non metal component, replace it and see how it goes.

You said you have been using non synthetic for a while right? If there's no problems then stick with it.

That's right but where I'm living now is going to get very cold in the next few months and the manual recommends synthetic for the conditions. I thought i'd be the right thing for the car but I guess not perhaps.

youtube.com/watch?v=3zEBI1QndPo

Thank you for the great video, wish I had seen it a week ago before I got my oil changed. It pretty much backs up the idea that I should have just kept using conventional in my 92 Lesabre with 316000km.

Is going back to conventional going to fix the leaks or is my car fukt now going forward no matter what (provided it's not a leak from the filter or plug)?

Cars have been living just fine with dino oil for decades. Unless your car specifically calls for synthetic, don't bother.

use thick ass oil and lucas oil stabilizer next time or do it now

so like high mileage 10w30 + lucas oil stabilizer ?

not lucas oil leak stop?

So this morning I checked oil level, if anything its a little high.

Under the hood I can't see any oil but its a little dusty could use a clean.

Got under the car (under the engine from the front to be precice) to have a look and see if I could see the drain or filter. This is what it looked like underneath.

Not good, right?

Not good. Gasket on the oil pan looks like it's on it's way out.

Clean the area with a rag and grease remover and watch to see exactly whwre the oil originates from. With that much leaking, could still be from the drain plug but spreading around. Although I suspect because of how far up the oil pan it is and the fact that it seems uniform your oil pan gasket may be shot. Remember though that the synthetic oil didn't cause the leak, the gasket was already shot and the better oil just exposed it more.

synthetic oil has smaller molecules than conventional hence why it can cause leaks, i dont run synthetic in my stuff unless its a newer engine. my 70s stuff all gets bulk regular oil in those giant pails from Walmart or Canadian Tire

coolant stop leak is fucked but oil stop leak is fine, all it does is swell up the seals to slow down or stop the leak. a shop botched one of my engine rebuilds and went bankrupt when it was there for warranty so i just put stop leak in it and the leaks way slower until i can properly fix it

pressure wash the whole area, dry it, see where its leaking. i worked in a shop for years and nearly every American vehicle past 250,000km had sludge under it like that especially GM like Lumina, Impala etc. the engine will conk out from age before that leak causes any issues, normal old car wear

Yeah I'm not against Synthetic oil, it's just exposed the problem that was already there. What could I expect to pay to rlace the oil pan gasket?

Sounds like I should have kept using dino oil. Do you think stop leak is worth a shot for my issue?

I'm not so stressed about the sludge but I guess it'd be nice for it not to leak.

>synthetic oil has smaller molecules than conventional
HAHAHAHAHAHA YOU'RE FUCKING RETARDED

>pipe
Clarify you're talking about the drain plug and not the filler tube. Not a huge deal either way. Your car has some decent miles so you could even switch to a high mileage oil for the seal additives if you haven't already

Yes I did mean plug in that post.

meh he's not really wrong
that's why synthetic oil has a easier time finding leaks
but if you have a better explanation
please feel free to post it

So the Synthetic oil most likely exposed leaks in my oil pan's gasket?

probably

Before you start doing stuff and worrying; clean the underside of your car, around the drain plug, around where the filter is mounted and so on, then let the car sit running on a flat surface for a while to see if it actually leaks

A lot of shops do oil quicks incredibly quick, and don't bother cleaning up spilt oil around the filler cap, oil filter mounting place, drain plug and whatnot

Wash your car first, what if dickhead at the shop spilt oil all over your engine and it's just dripping off the skid plate

After that make sure the drain plug is tight, like, super tight, and throw an O ring or a crush washer in there too if there isn't one.

I had a car that burnt about a litre of oil every tank, but I kept it topped up and nothing ever happened. Basically it's not the end of the world

He's entirely wrong and you are ALSO retarded HAHAHAHA

I shall do this.

Not so concerned with oil consumption, just don't want to be making a mess where I have parked.

>He's entirely wrong and you are ALSO retarded HAHAHAHA

you must be fun at parties

sure buddy
i'm still waiting

If he said smaller atoms then yes, he'd be wrong. Look into viscosity, it's above my pay grade, but synthetic is more slippery for a reason, and it's probably to do with its molecular makeup

>5w30 less viscous than 5w30
HAHAHAHAHAHA

Shame... i was hoping to use blue devil to stop my rear main from leaking...

When did I say that. Please, explain why synthetic oil is better at penetrating and more likely to leak then. Im not seeing any answers or information from you, fucking 16 year old busrider faggot.

>316k km on a 3800
Keep putting oil in it if you don't care. Other wise put a cardboard underneath it and check where it drips overnight. Might be a grease monkey that could not target the funnel properly.

It doesn't change anything. Conventional oil is still like 50% synthetic because it's cheaper to make synthetic oil nowadays.