So my coolant tank broke last week and lost a lot of coolant and my fans came on. I had only driven it across town, maybe 10 minutes, and was parking it when I heard the radiator fans on at full speed and popped the hood and saw the broken tank. Anyway, as I was draining the radiator fluid today while installing the new tank, I noticed several drips of oil forming beneath the engine (I'm guessing that's the oil pan area). I have not noticed my car dripping before, but the plastic cover is usually on under the engine so that kind of blocked my view. I did notice my car was a little low on oil when I bought it though. At the time I didn't think much of it and just added about half a quart of oil stabilizer. Now I think back, it might have been leaking. Not sure though because I just had this coolant tank problem, it could be related to that or it could not. I read a lot of good reviews about Lucas Oil stop leak. I was planning on changing the oil soon, so I'm not sure what I should try. I hate to put a bunch of expensive oil in and have it leak all out and be running the engine dry. Or maybe it's just a little drop of oil from last week and it's nothing.

 

Probably the most likely cause is the oil pan leaking and nothing to worry about. To replace the gasket is quite an ordeal. So some searching on here about that. Very common issue with our cars.

I am not a big fan of any stop leak products. I look at it as putting a band aid on a problem instead of fixing it properly. Always skeptical of anything that if it has the ability to plug a leak are up it might also plug up areas you don't want. Not sure how it can be so selective. Maybe worth a try sometimes if you have an old beater on it's last legs, but on a nice daily driver, get it fixed properly. To each his own.

 

I might use the Lucas stop leak. It's basically a quart of oil you put in with the other oil. They make really good products and design for racing so I trust their stuff. I heard that stop leaks swell up seals though and over time can make them mushy, and make them worse. I'm not sure if the Lucas stuff would do this but I'm thinking if I just used a quart every other oil change, it wouldn't be a problem. I also heard good things about the AT-205 on youtube. Supposedly that doesn't swell the seals up like petroleum products. It had some really good reviews, but a guy on this forum just talked about how it didn't fix his leaks, so I'm not sure but it may be worth a try. It's kind of a toss up between those two brands. I looked under there this morning and it didn't look like it was leaking bad, so maybe that was just oil that had accumulated over a long time and I couldn't see it because the cover is usually on underneath the car. Anyways, it may be a good idea to use a high mileage oil or try that lucas or atp stuff.

 

A lot of times oil pan and lower engine leaks can actually be caused by a vacuum leak or PCV hose leak on the top of the engine that allows crankcase pressure to build up forcing oil out of places it shouldn't. My new jag was leaking pretty good before I changed out the intake manifold gaskets and fixed some broken and leaking vacuum hoses and now it seems to be much better.

 

Oh ok good to know. My brake booster hose is currently broken and I'm waiting for a replacement. In the meantime I taped it up. Wonder if a little air is getting through... It may have a leak somewhere. I have heard a lot of people changing out those two rings on the side of the intake. I reused my old seals when I changed the spark plugs, they seemed ok still. Well anyway, I'll keep that in mind and see if I notice a difference with the new hose.