3.8 oil leak

[jeff_s]

I recently bought a 97 FB base coupe with the 3.8 V6. This is known as a good engine. My wife's old Bonneville has a 3800 and has gone 170k without a prob.

My 97 has an oil leak that must drop on the exhaust system. It stinks at stoplights but doesn't seem to be using much oil.

I've heard that the rear engine seal is a problem on these F-body 3800 engines. I also heard that it could be a leak at the tailshaft of the tranny.

Is the engine seal fixable by a mechanically experienced owner? I am hoping it only requires dropping the pan, and not parting the engine from the tranny. Anyone had experience with the problem??

jeff

[86TA]

I just gave this same advice to someone else who had an oil leak problem... try Lucus oil treatment... expecially if your not using much oil. Are you sure that it is oil...cuz if you are, i would try lucus before starting to tear into things - it may save you some money...but anyway... drive it around for a while, till you start to smell it, there should be smoke too, then go home, or pulll over somewhere, and see where the smoke is coming from, or if you can see any kind of fluid on the exaust pipes.

[76ta]

this ones only 3 years old..

[custom mccannix]

hey hes getting closer!!!!!!!!!! HEy John I think you need to lock up anything over a month old

[76ta]

haha agreed

[86TA]

sorry guys.. i guess i have gave everone something to laugh about now... becuase my display got switched to show the oldest threads first by accident... i figured it out and already said something to John about it... so yeah, you'll see probly about 5 responces from me on threads that are way out of date... my bad... i wasnt thinking to check the dates first... so thank you to all of you who are so observant...