Oil Pan or Rear Main Bearing

[lone_wolf025]

Brought my car into the shop the other day. I wanted them to fix the window regulator and an oil leak. Now I'd do these repairs myself cept I have a warranty still. The regulator is a no brainer, but the oil leak is another issue.

Basically the oil is dripping down the side of the oil pan that sits right against the transmission pan I believe. Basically there's about a good inch wide gap to try and peer up to determine the source. Well the warranty claim inspector feels its more likely a oil pan gasket leak (which was my first assesment) whereas my mechanic thinks its a rear main bearing seal gone bad. All this means I'm out of my car for the better part of a week due to bureaucracy.

[AaronGTR]

Oil pan leaks aren't very common on these cars since they did away with stamped steel pans and went to cast aluminum. The cast pans are much stiffer so they don't distort when torquing them down and stay flat for a better seal to the block. It is possible for the gasket to shrink with age and milage, but you are usually looking a 100k+ miles and 8 years old or more. I wouldn't think either would apply to your car being an '03, but it's possible that it's the rear main seal too. Especially if it's leaking from the back of the pan by the flywheel. The rear main seal isn't hard to replace, but the labor can be expensive because they need to pull the engine and remove the flywheel to do it.

[lone_wolf025]

The job was going to be something like $800+ just for the labor.

[coupe]

I have that leak also. Its a very small leak.

[lvemy3100]

obviously I dont have a ga but I have had a similar issue for the last 3 oil changes.... it seemed to start after switching to regular mobil clean 5000 vs my normal mobil HM oil.... in my case I am pretty sure its the seal and not the pan since I am just about to hit 100k on my 99 and the leak seemed to stop at the last change when I went back to the HM mobil...

[lone_wolf025]

Got an update

They're going to go with the oil pan AND while they have it in they're going to replace the LIM. So I guess I can't complain...they've caught something major before its an issue. Sadly though this means I'm without my car for that much longer...

[Panacea]

I had oil leaking on my oil pan too, turned out to be the LIM.