97 oil everywhere but runs great!!

[2ME]

I have spent some $800 this summer trying to find where oil is coming out of my voyager. New valve cover gasket. Oil sending unit and other stuff. Is there a common known issue here? Mechanic doesn't want to do head gasket cause van runs too well and the leak has been there for years. It did go down a bit with the earlier work now it only looses about 1 qt a week right on my garage floor and my wifes office parking lot. It's a royal mess. It's not burning the stuff it's bleeding it!!

[ricebike]

add a dye & use a special light...heck that's what any good mechanic would do...

[yogi_123rd]

You might want to check if the leak could be the oil pressure sending unit - they have a habit of failing. It is a cylinder about 3 inches long right next to the oil filter.

[waltham41]

If you cant see an obvious leak area, remove the access plate for the flywheel and see if it is really wet with oil inside the bellhousing area. That would indicate a bad rear main seal.

It has been my experience that if the engine is covered in old crusty oil, and is using that much oil, look for clean wet with oil areas which would indicate a flow of oil that is keeping that area washed clean with fresh oil.

[bartgault]

Check the front crankshaft seal. I had this problem with my 89 (2.5 L). Not alot of oil, but consistent.

[jjsacco]

My 3.0L Voyager leaks oil like a supertanker on a reef. I have been researching this and believe that is is caused by oil sludge in the valve cover baffles and a clogged PCV valve. This causes the crankcase to be pressurized, forcing the oil out through every seal. I have not yet removed the valve covers to clean the baffles, so I cannot be sure of this solution yet.

[vipergg]

Originally Posted by jjsacco

My 3.0L Voyager leaks oil like a supertanker on a reef. I have been researching this and believe that is is caused by oil sludge in the valve cover baffles and a clogged PCV valve. This causes the crankcase to be pressurized, forcing the oil out through every seal. I have not yet removed the valve covers to clean the baffles, so I cannot be sure of this solution yet.

Yeah had this happen on a real cold day , blew out all the seals on the thing , $1000 later i was back on the road . The easy way to see if your pcv valve is working is to pull the rubber hose thats in the front and see if there is a lot of white sludge inside , if so replace pcv vlave asap . pcv valve froze up . I doubt its the baffles probably the pcv valve and it could have blown out a few seals . Just keep an eye on that front hose for white sludge . I had it before hand but didn't know what was causing it , I do now .

[waltham41]

Does the engine have good compression? If your rings are worn you can have what is known as blowby where the compression "blows by" the rings back into the block and it then pushes past any seals and gaskets it can, and usually results in oil leaks.

Look at the area where the top of the valve cover breather goes back into the air filter box. If you see oil, blowby is a good possibility and you need to have a compression check done.