Substantial oil leak among many problems

Hello!

I drive a 93 GPSE 3.4. I have had a serious oil leak for many months now but have not had the time to fix the problem. The leak is coming from the drivers side of the engine. It will pour like niagra falls when I look under the car as it is idling in park. I am hoping that it is my oil pump drive seal and gasket. Has anyone experienced this that can help me. She has not lost any power but will leak about 1qt per 100 miles. Need to fix immediately. Also, I have a strong gas smell coming from under the hood...EGR? When I go to fix this problem I plan on changing my timing belt, cam bearings upper/lower intake gaskets....any other suggestions. This car has 190K on her and I plan on keeping it forever. No major problems until now. I am also going to change the struts soon. What is preferred? No cheap ones but not top end either.

Jon S.

Sorry to hear that. One good thing is that you never have to do an oil change. Having fresh oil in the car is good for the motor.

Ahhh... the 3.4 oil leak... I have been living with that for a while now... I haven't got around to fix it yet, because you have to remove a head assembly to get to it, i think it's the rear. Its a distributor plug that has a worn o-ring in it. It's a lot of work for a seal replacement... I wish i had a picture to show you the exact placement of the seal because 99% chance that is your problem. I have seen the engine out of the car and it's not hard to spot that way. I have the exact same car by the way with the same (sounds to be the same)oil leak. It also notice that when i run in higher rpms i leak a more noticable amount of oil, guessing because of the increased amount of pressure on the seal. The struts i'm still trying to find a good deal for mine... so i can't help you much on that. Good luck with her! -> Also, how are your brakes on your car, are they performing decently?<- just wondering.

Brian,

What is a distributor plug? I am not sure that I follow. My brakes need work right now. My front rotors and pads need to be replaced because they are rounding at the moment. The rear brakes seem to be fine. My AC compressor clutch is also out at the moment which really sucks in 100+ degree heat. Many things have recently gone wrong on my car. When it rains it pours I guess. I have saved a large sum of money to do a total refurbish on my Grand Prix. Brakes, wheels, tires, paint job, custom built exhaust....the whole nine yards. She is going in the garage in two weeks until next spring. Me and a couple of buddies are going to start tearing her apart then. One of them is a GM mechanic but I haven't asked him about the oil leak yet. Keep me posted on the struts.

Regalfriend,

Sorry to hear that. One good thing is that you never have to do an oil change. Having fresh oil in the car is good for the motor.

Yeah, I haven't changed my oil in a while. I have replaced the filter though. I put a couple of quarts in it every week. It is getting old.

The part Brian is talking about is actually the oil pump drive shaft. It's essentially a distributor with the top cut off. It's located in the center of the "V" of the engine, under the throttle body on the drivers side. The o-ring is fel-pro part#70800, and I also put a paper gasket from a small block Chevy (fel-pro part #70194) between the top of the block and the housing as added insurance if the o-ring fails again. I've done a bunch on the 3.1/3100 motors, and you have to remove the throttle body to change it, but I've never done one on a 3.4 DOHC. If you can't find OEM AC-Delco (not Delco's cheap line, they are just reboxed Gabriels), go with KYB on the struts.

richtazz,

Thanks for the part numbers. I was hoping that you would reply to this thread. As for KYB, that's exactly what I was thinking.

I was planning on fixing it this weekend but it is wedding season right now. My buddy is getting married. This is wedding 3 out of 9 that I have this year. And they are all my guy friends. Still so young and stupid.

Jon S.