Oil Leak

I brought my car into the garage because the was a bit of an oil leak and they said that it is the dummy seal that needs to be changed, also they said that the timming chain would be a good idea to change at the same time and that this would take about 10.5hrs and cost about $1500. the cars is a 93 chevy lumina euro, 4door with a 3.4L V6.

First of all, does this sound right? i've never heard of a dummy seal
second, is there any way to slow the leak in the mean time with oil additives
and third, if the above needs to be done, would it be to my advantage to rebuild the engine and about how much would it cost. (i live in Canada)

any advise would be much appreciated

Hey. Well check around with other mechanics or other people who are experienced with this type of problem. I just think that you should get more than one opinion before spending $1500 on a car repair!

My 1999 3.8 has an oil pan leak. While at the dealer, they dold me about $850 to correct and also noted one valve cover was leaking slightly. I think I can fix valve cover with no problem. The oil pan is a different story. I snugged up the pan and that seemed to help. Will keep an ey on it.

ive never heard of a dummy seal but then again when you race your monte and blow shit up every week you never know. i would keep puttin aditive in that will slow it and then keep going to other shops most of the small shops will be better then the large dealers

First locate where the leak is coming from. Once you determine that the rest should be quite easy to repair. The oil leak I had in my 1994 APV came from the distributor stem not having a seal. I had to remove the distributor to insert the seal. No more leaks! I only performed this repair once I was certain where the leak was originating from.

maybe they are talking about the o ring for the cap that plugs off the hole where distributor shaft used to be...I had same problem but only cost me 72 cents for o ring....it is located under the throttle body...hope this is of some help...can be replaced by removing throttle body if this is where the leak is coming from...its the only "dummy seal" i know for

The dummy seal is the distributor plug, it is a small o-ring

10.5 hrs 1500 dollars = Over 100 dollars an hour.
And there certainly won't be 450 dollars in parts.
Even in Canadian dollars that seems pretty high.