I have an oil leak that is leaving a fair amount of oil on the back of the oil pan and the cross member. I crawled under the car about a week ago and took some photos but was unable to pinpoint where the leak is coming from. I plan to get under the car today with a mirror on an extension but I was wondering if there are oil leaks that are common back there.

I have attached several photos. Most of what I could see on the block was clean and the front of the plan was pretty clean.

Any help would be appreciated.

Biff

 

Biff, might not be much help but I recommend getting a scope camera as it can take pics that you can upload and blow up on your laptop. If it's me, I start at the top of the engine vs. the bottom beginning with the valve covers. A mirror wand might get you there too but again, start from the top. My two cents

 

Tip: Use brake cleaner spray to blast off all the visible oil. Then you're more likely to see the origination point as it reoccurs.

 

Yes, this, I’ve done the same for help with finding leaks in various engines.

 

I did just order a borescope, $40 on Amazon. With everything in the engine compartment being as cramped as it is, I am sure I will have many uses for it.

And coincidentally, before I saw the other messages, I bought a lot of engine cleaner and sprayed down all of the oily parts. I smell like an oil refinery at the moment.

Also, I went to an oil changer who put the car on their lift. Still hard to see but it looks like the oil filter base might possibly be the origin of the leak, though I am not sure of that yet.

 

Hard to tell from the pic, but it just looks dirty from filter changes. I've had bad experiences with aftermarket filter, even the cheap cartridge style ones, which leak. I still think the quickest and easiest, considering how dirty everything's there, to wash it all down spotless clean and then monitor for leaks on clean parts..

 

+1

Cleaning is essential. You're going to have a hard job identifying the source with all that oil spread around.

Graham

 

Hey Biff,
Compliments on the great pics!
If it does actually turn out to be a seeping pan gasket, may I suggest snugging the pan cap screws? Good retorque spec is about as tight as you can reasonably get 'em with a nut driver (ie, screwdriver with hex socket head). Overtightening will make things worse, but snugging sometimes really helps. Ditto for your valve covers...
(Also, Wix makes great filters; one of the best aftermarket brands. BTW, my "pan gasket leak" - XJR - turned out to be seeping ATF cooler line flex sections; easily fixed with a couple feet of Gates 3/8" oil cooler hose)

 

That’s good advice, wish I’d had it some time ago. Had an oil leak from the left side valve cover, ordered new parts (gasket, bolts, oil filler, etc.), and as I was removing the valve cover to do the work, I found the last bolt I needed to remove (lowest, toward the firewall), was loose, totally loose, surprised it hadn’t fallen out. Since I was already that far, I took the cover off and could see that’s where it had been leaking, so I replaced the gasket anyway.
But maybe just tightening it would have solved my problem.

 

Please explain snugging for those of us who don't speak American

 

Hey Jon,
Gorgeous XKR drophead you have there!

Ah, yes..."speaking American". I was secretly born in St Albans, and smuggled to deepest, darkest French Quebec as a babe, later escaping with family to San Diego - strangers in a strange land. Early memory of my Very British father under the bonnet of a clapped out old Chevrolet, wreathed in steam, instructing me up the road to the "petrol establishment" to politely inquire after a "variable spanner".
This, of course, elicited howls of laughter from the gas station crowd, who - after lengthy interrogation, complete with crude schoolboy sketches - translated my anguished anglo into "Crescent Wrench". Henceforth, I dutifully studied "American" in front of the hall mirror, and now I is one...

So, "snugging" is simply "nipping up", as my late father would say. That is, no tighter than you could normally achieve with a small screwdriver (nutdriver). Say, 75 inch pounds.

Any sheetmetal sump or cover sealed with a gasket is very easily distorted by overtightening, and will then often leak. Old gaskets lose their resiliency and - generally - shrink. They can often be called back to duty by gently snugging the fasteners, as described. Overtightening will distort the sheetmetal, etc.

Of course, best thing is new gasket. But, if an engine pull is involved, first try gently nipping 'em up...

 

It turns out it was the oil pan gasket. Tightening the bolts had no effect. It may be useful to know that when I put the new gasket in the channel, it did not appear to seat evenly. It looked to be seated particularly low near the place where it was previously leaking. The difference wasn't huge (maybe 1 or 2 mm) but I thought it might be big enough to leak. It didn't. The new gasket solved the problem. As different jobs go, this was an easy one.

Thank you for all of the good advice.

Biff

 

HI Sport,

So, another escapee then

The blue XK in my profile was my first one, here's my current one which I've owned for a couple of years, no problems so far



Must resize the picture & update my profile

 

small item of note, i think -- it appears you've got the jacking point and the jack-stand point backwards. is that alright? i'm not actually sure. i guess i can't see why not.