Oil leek on left side of the engine

[sverker]

My '97 is about to get the LIM changed but couldn't do it yet because lack of garage (and in the winter time it's not so nice to do it outside). It was loosing coolant at a quite slow pace and there was no traces of it going into the oil so I used the car to drive the kidz to school.

Then suddenly it started to loose oil, I got the indicator of low oil level when starting so I filled up with a liter, the level on the stick came up to almost full. Then two days later the indicator came on again when starting in the morning, low on the stick again. It had not been any smoke nor could I see anything below in the snow. Then I left it in the parking lot as there was so much snow that it wasn't possible to do anything. Oil presure was never low.

Now when the snow has melted I can see a puddle of oil under the left side of the engine, almost exactly under the connection to the tranny, but it's engine oil.

The question is from where it has come from, could it be the o-ring on the oil pump drive shaft (which I have planned to change anyway)? What else in that end of the engine could leek oil? I want to make sure I have all the parts when I start with the job, we are getting more desent temperatures now so it's time to get started with it.

[lesterl]

Could be the silicone at the LIM gaskets has let go also...... I would do the LIM ASAP before you need an engine....... Could also be a valve cover leak or a head gasket I suppose.......

[venturenot]

I had an oil leak in the same location that was mistaken for the rear main seal and it turned out to be the oil pump O ring. Face the engine and on the right side slide a screw driver down along the lim in to the valley, pull it back up and see if there is oil on the end.. That is where oil will pool up and then spill over if it is the oil pump O ring.

[sverker]

This was the cause of my oil leak (on the ground can also be seen the oil puddle that resulted from letting the engine idle only a couple of minutes):



It's the oil pressure sender, it is located just above the starter motor so if you see oil dripping from there this is likely the cause. It was leaking out from the connector.

It's a $10 component, and it's not difficult to change it. A 27 mm socket is needed tall enough to fit over the connector, the socket I got is 77 mm tall. Losen the engine mount struts and rotate it back, then there is enough room to fit the socket over the component. I used a joint and an extender to comfortly reach it with the ratchet wrench. It took roughly 10 minutes from start to end to get it done.