oil leak, 97 running synthetic

[dankman911]

Need some opinions;

 

It's a 97 w/ 60k. Switched to full syntheic @ 47k, mobil 1 5w30 and a quart of synthetic lucas

 

For a few months now, after parking and walking away, I've been smelling oil. Not all burnt and smoking but that hot used oil smell. recently noticed a few quarter sized drops where I park every day, so I climed my pudgey ass underneeth only to find a little drip on the bottom of the bell housing right where it meets the motor

 

First thouhghts = rear main

 

The fact that I can smell it makes me think it's leaking from somewhere higher up and getting near the exhaust. Valve covers, hopefully??

 

Most of the stuff I found searching was for the 3.0; Where else do these 3.3's leak from?

 

What would you all do? thicker oil, a blend, some of that leak dye stuff?

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated

[180sx]

Well, I had a similar problem on my 96. Turned out the Valve cover was leaking onto my exhaust manifold (made a nice smoking show!).

One thing to consider is that you switched to synthetic. Many people have stated that when you switch to synthetic, you can come across some leaks due to the fact that the synthetic is 'thinner' than the crude stuff, and that its 'cleaning' all the built up dyno stuff, which can cause leaks in places there wasn't any.

I say keep an eye on it, check your oil levels at least once a week (which we should all be doing anyway...) and hope it all seals back up once the oil is all synthetic and the dino stuff is 'cleaned' out.

 

Or, you can pull you valve cover gasket on the passenger side and see if it's hard as a rock like mine was.

 

Wait...did you say your 97 only has 60K miles? do you drive it at all? Mine has 155k on it, and its only a year older...haha.

[dankman911]

Had a good look last night, sure looks like the valve covers; Read about the screws coming loose...they sure were a bit.

 

2 Questions;

 

Should I still run full synthetic? or am I just asking for more leaks

 

Read about overfilling...is there really that much difference between 3 7/8 and 4?

[Simon]

See if it continues leaking. If not, I wouldn't worry about running synthetic.

 

3 7/8 - 4 L isn't a whole lot of difference. I wouldn't put any more in there though.

[180sx]

Although I always try to put exactly 3-7/8, I'm sure I end up putting 4qt even any way (I buy those 5 qt jugs from Wal-Mart, so much cheaper than the 4qt things at auto stores). I remember I used to put 4qt in my Sentra all the time, for like a year I did this, and always wondered why the engine never seemed to rev up and get the MPG's like when I first bought it. Realized after reading the owners manual, that it only took 2-7/8qts. Doh! Haha, putting in just over a quart more of oil. Put it back to normal and i got my motor back to the way it was! even got my MPG back to 28 avg (was like 22 when the oil thing was messing it up, big difference!). So, from this story, just be careful.

[HitTheTrails]

Had a good look last night, sure looks like the valve covers; Read about the screws coming loose...they sure were a bit.

 

2 Questions;

 

Should I still run full synthetic? or am I just asking for more leaks

 

Read about overfilling...is there really that much difference between 3 7/8 and 4?

 

 

my valve cover screws were all loose so i tightened them up (except for a few i couldn't reach without removing other stuff) and now my oil leak is very minimal. hopefully tightening them up will fix your problem. keep an eye on your oil level and see how it goes.