Grand prix oil leak

[Gunny04]

Yep.... My moms 1994 Pontiac Grand prix is spooling oil out, if you drive it straight you need to add a quart every half-full tank of gas, or every week if it sits and its cold out... I crawled under the car one day to see what was up, I expected to see it dripping slowly.... and lets just say it was dripping like a leaky sink faucet, I was wondering what COULD be wrong, We think it was used as a street racer by somebodys kid because it had a few problems, rear struts, Engine sensors (Crank shaft sensor, Coolant sensor and another I forget) Looks to me like the cat has been pounded out and it has a stainless steel exhaust (Factory from what I can tell) Sounds like a bloody airplane when it gets shut off though, its a V6 3100 I think I am not going outside to check at the moment I will later. Another problem it had was somebody had rammed the shifter.... Twisted the gear linkage all up and its still not right but its livable. Anyways back on subject I want to know how/where the oil is leaking from, how much it MAY cost to fix at a dealership etc....

heres the pic



Car had only been sitting there 4-8 hours so it leaks pretty fast when its warm out and the oil is hot from running, any suggestions would be great!

Gunny

[Craig.]

the truth is gunny, its going to be virtually impossible for anyone here to tell you where its coming from and what could be wrong. There are so many differant things that could be causing it that guessing would be no help.
Best bet really is, take it to a garage you trust and get them to look it over. And pretty soon if its as bad as it looks.

[Gunny04]

Thats what I thought craig, Just wondering. I think the gasket is a bit shot. It'll go in eventually but I was wondering how serious it was... to me it looks pretty bloody bad, had the car since September and its leaked like that, just toss quarts in and keep the oil up and dont slack on it is what we've been doing. It needs to go in though. Thanks for the reply mate!

Gunny

[Craig.]

dont leave it too long, seriously.
I had a simmilar problem, then after driving only 90 miles my engine basically ate itself and coughed it out onto the road. End result was the car being scrapped because it would have cost more than the car was worth to fix.
Again if you even think the gasket is going get it checked, theres no way of knowing when its going to go, because it will just go and your going to need a new engine.

[Gunny04]

Hopefully it goes in to a shop in a week or two if all goes well!

Gunny

[Mushroom_Farmer]

Only advice I can give is to thoroughly clean the engine and then try to spot the leak. There are dyes you can put in the the oil that show under black light. After reading it's past abuse, I wouldn't be surprised if it has a cracked oil pan.

[Gunny04]

yea I am not too surprised for it having an oil leak like it does, Being driven by some older people probably and they had a kid who ragged it a little bit and it ran kinda cruddy when we bought it, some additives to the gas tank fixed that up nicely. Only has a 140,000 miles or so on it so its not that bad for an older vehicle. Starts right up and such.... just leaks oil thats the only thing wrong with it, that and the mechanic said it had a radiator replaced because there was oil in the coolant.... no idea how that could have happened. was only 1300 bucks plus the work so just under 2000 or so... not terrible.

Gunny

[Hagar]

and the mechanic said it had a radiator replaced because there was oil in the coolant.... no idea how that could have happened

That's a typical symptom of a leaking cylinder head gasket. I would get it fixed ASAP.

PS. Don't want to worry you but it's more than likely a cracked cylinder head.

[Craig.]

and the mechanic said it had a radiator replaced because there was oil in the coolant.... no idea how that could have happened

That's a typical symptom of a leaking cylinder head gasket. I would get it fixed ASAP.

If it is as bad as oil in the coolant, definitly have it in the garage tomorrow morning.

[Gunny04]

No oil in coolant now that I know of and I often check, this was obviously on the carfax report thing they looked up or something. I'm pretty sure that was all taken care of because the mechanics said not to worry about just make sure it doesnt do leak oil into the coolant and it doesnt, oil just drips out of the oil pan on the sides down the fuel line etc...

Gunny

[Chris_F]

Oil leaks can be easy to fix or very expensive.  They can be a minor annoyance or a major problem.  It could be a simple mis-tightened oil filter.  It could be a cracked engine block.  It could be any of a number of seals or gaskets, some easy to fix (valve cover), some very difficult (crank bearing).  It could get worse, it could get better, it stay the same.  One thing is for sure: if the car runs out of oil it will die a violent death fairly quickly, like within minutes or seconds.  That'll mean an engine replacement!

[Gunny04]

Yep I know cars need oil and it has to be checked constantly.... my mother is good about that stuff, my dad? Let the last cars oil filter foul up (nearly 2 years) and it seized.... yea my dads a real genious isn't he?

Gunny

[elite marksman]

Depending on which V6 you have in there, I tell you this. It will be VERY expensive if you have the smaller (but more powerful) engine. The hood looks really long, but GM really crammed the engine into it, so labor costs are going to be rather high. Believe it or not, there is more room in my 00 Grand Am with the I4 than there is in the Grand Prix, and the Prix's engine compartment is twice the size.

[Triple_7]

Plenty of options as to where it is leaking.  First simple thing to check though, the drain plug on the oil pan, make sure its little rubber washer isnt falling apart, cheap to replace, had a similar amount leaking from my old truck due to that washer falling off.  Oil pan gasket leaking, also a simple fix.  Or as already mentioned the oil filter might not be on quite right or the seal is messed up.  Shops will charge an arm and a leg to fix even the most simple problems when most you can fix yourself in a matter of minutes.

Could be more serious but could be very simple.  For 5 bucks or less you could get a new pan gasket and a little drain plug washer.  Then change the oil and new filter.  If still leaking then you know its a bigger problem.

Just dont do like some people (and a lot of shops) and take a wrench to the new filter and tighten it till it wont go any farther, just put it on by hand with one good twist after it feels tight.  To tight and the seal breaks.

[Mushroom_Farmer]

[quote]Plenty of options as to where it is leaking.