On a typical day, as you are driving to work, you come to a halt and discover a pool of oil beneath your vehicle. Finding oil leaks under your car, even if it is only a few drops, is unsettling. Furthermore, messy leaks might ruin the appearance of your driveway.
An oil leak should not be overlook. An oil leak from the top/bottom of an engine is a major problem. So, what should a responsible vehicle owner do? Of sure, you should fix the leak.
The single most important thing that you can do for taking care of your car is to change the oil, according to popular belief. Nonetheless, many car owners put off doing it, and the consequences of doing so can be disastrous.
Oil’s primary function is to reduce friction in your engine. If you have high-quality, clean oil that will do its job correctly, it means your engine’s components are not rubbing against each other and producing rust.
On the other hand, oil becomes polluted with time and loses its viscosity too. In a nutshell, it gets filthy. When that happens, then it loses its capacity to reduce friction, which means your engine’s components will physically wear each other down, resulting in erosion and potentially serious mechanical failures.
Leaking oil can end up on the road which can make the road slippery, especially in wet weather. This can create a hazard for other vehicles which could cause a motor vehicle accident. Those who are injured in car crashes should strongly consider whether they need the help of a motor vehicle injury lawyer Perth. A good lawyer can make the claims process a lot easier.
It’s usually cause by worn-out oil seals or engine gaskets. These components can corrode with time, but if you have this type of leak, it’s more than likely due to old, unclean oil—perhaps because you haven’t had your oil changed very recently.
For you, a professional mechanic can determine the source of the leak. But, in the meanwhile, here are some theories as to why and where your automobile might be leaking oil.
- Damaged oil gaskets/pans
Because they are place at the engine’s bottom, road debris can easily damage your vehicle’s oil gaskets and pans. Rough roads can develop a hole, resulting in an oil pan leak. Your pan’s gasket is subjected to plenty of wear and strain, and it can also be broken, resulting in an oil gasket leaking.
- Incorrect installations
One of the oil-tight gaskets may have been placed incorrectly. Over tightening the valve cover gasket or oil pan gasket is the most prevalent cause of this.
It can also happen if the tightness isn’t distributed evenly. Another cause could be a loose oil filter. Engine oil flows continually through it, and also if it is loose, it can leak.
- Bad rings/valve seals
Your car’s oil loss could also be cause by leaking rings or valve seals. However, if your gaskets have no holes, the oil may not make it outside your engine and will be burn up during the combustion process, so you will not notice it.
In any situation an oil leak must be stop as soon as possible, so get your car to a repair shop right once. Following an oil leak, you may smell burnt oil, see blue smoke, and eventually have serious engine damage. Do not put off dealing with this problem.
- Oil pan plug may not be in place
It’s possible that the threads on your oil pan plug are stripped, or that it wasn’t correctly placed and tightened.
A rubber plug can be use as a temporary fix, but a more permanent solution would be to replace the oil pan stopper with any hardened steel thread insert, which has the proper thread pitch and size for your oil pan of car.
- Blown head gasket or your engine block seals
If you are driving an older automobile, the issue could be a burst head gasket or your rubber materials that seal the engine block, which must have deteriorated, allowing oil to seep from the top.
When a car is driven without enough coolant, the engine might overheat, causing the cylinder head to distort and the head gasket to leak. When there isn’t enough antifreeze for keeping the water system from freezing in a colder region, an engine block can also freeze.
If either of these things has happened, your engine may need to be overhaul or replaced.
- Seals of front and the rear crankshaft
The crankshaft is your engine’s internal component that protrudes a little from both ends. It can serve as the mounting point for your external harmonic balancer, flywheel, or flexplate by jutting out a little.
At both ends of your car’s crankshaft are seals that prevent oil to leak out of your engine. The front and rear primary seals are commonly refer to as such.
Oil may build on the engine’s underside if a crankshaft seal leak happens to be modest. However, if the leak is large, an oil leak at the front of your engine may be evident.
- Cylinder head gasket
Internal leaks caused by head gaskets are more common, resulting in difficulties including coolant usage and coolant-oil intermix. Externally, however, head gaskets can leak engine oil and coolant both. Flat engines, sometimes known as boxer engines, are especially vulnerable to this issue.
- The adapter of oil filter housing gasket or seal
The oil filter in your car is attach to adapter with screws. Behind that housing is generally a gasket or seal that can create leaks. In case your car has got a cartridge-style oil filter, then leaks could also come from the cap or seal on the oil filter housing.
If your automobile is leaking oil while parking, contact your nearby auto repair shop. It could be something as simple as you are parking on a slope, or something more complicated like a crack in the sealing materials of your engine.
Leaking engine oil can be black or light brown in colour, with an oily odour rather than the burnt odour associated with power steering fluid or brake fluid. The cost of repairing an oil leak varies based on the underlying problem that caused the leak.
For example, replacing the oil pan gasket could set you back a few hundred dollars. A timing belt oil leak, on the other hand, will be more expensive to repair. The cost of repairs might vary greatly, which is the reason you should always request an estimate.
