Grand prix oil leak

[Chris_F]

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

[Gunny04]

Yea I thought about crawling under it and taking pictures, however the car and my camera went to madison Wisconsin, so Thats improbable at the moment, I watched where it was leaking from, I couldnt tell exactly but it looks like the oil pan gasket itself or the drain plug,

[Craig.]

gunny i dont know your car too well, but my car idles at several hundred RPM's I believe. I'd need to double check it. whenever the engine is running its going to be more than 0rpm.

[Gunny04]

lets say you could hear 4 or 5 of the cylinders running and the 6th cutting in and out, I gave it gas (up to around 1500Rpms) and instead of returning to 7-900 like it was supposed to the rpm guage kept bouncing between 250-400 and then 0... sputtered, kicked back up... I think It was running on 1 cylinder by the time I finally gave it gas again to get it running normal again. Now my grandma's 89 blazer you can rev it as much as you want and it always idles fine... my moms grand prix? Nearly stalled on me. Now that is scary.... anyways I was just wondering if its something with not able to rev fuel injection or what is wrong with it

Gunny

[Craig.]

possibly a faulty O2 sensor? or new air filter needed.

[Gunny04]

I think the O2 sensor just was changed however That could definatly be the problem, when the car comes back I'll take the air filter apart and see how it is....

Gunny (Blazer used to run like the grand prix does, had to pump it to start it, then you had to watch it smoke out the neighborhood, Was coolant and O2 sensor)

[Mushroom_Farmer]

Hey Gunny, when was the fuel filter last changed? One other possibility might be water in the gas. Try running a can of "Heat" brand fuel additive on the next fill-up. O2 sensors have nothing to do with idle. They don't even work until heated up by the exhaust gases and are only used to fine tune the air/fuel mixture and then all they do is switch on and off repeatedly. They normally get replaced from being plugged up rather than by failure.

[Gunny04]

The car has done this before, unless all gas is completely watered down I doubt that is the problem, Fuel filter... another thing I didnt think of. I'll check all of the filters when it gets back sometime tomorrow. Thanks for all of the advice guys... much needed!

Gunny

[Triple_7]

Strange idle typicaly caused by something in the fuel system, replace the fuel filter and see if that helps.  If the car is fuel injected then get a bottle of cleaner ($1-$5) and put in the gas tank.  Clogged injectors can cause a lot of problems.  Some vehicals are just strange when they idle.  My old 89 Bronco usualy idles anywhere from 800-1500 RPM and never stays consistant.  My mom has a 97 Mercury and its the same way with the not so smooth idle.  Also if your weather has been very cold like we've had down here then most vehicals are going to have a hard time idling till they start to warm up, till the past few days we were in the -5

[Mushroom_Farmer]

[quote]Strange idle typicaly caused by something in the fuel system, replace the fuel filter and see if that helps.

[Chris_F]

Re: bad idle, always start with the basics (the free stuff).

Open the air box and check the air filter.  Go over the entire intake and check for obvious vacuum leaks (look for vacuum tubes which may have come loose, re-tighten all the hose clamps, etc).  Pull all your plug wires and (if you have a spark plug socket and torque wrench) all your spark plugs and visually inspect them for anything weird.  With the plugs out turn the engine over once or twice and sniff for gas in the cylinders (do NOT leave the plugs anywhere near the holes or they'll ignite the gas vapors).  Check for spark.  Watch the idle controller and see if it's doing its thing while the engine is trying to idle.

Once you've done all that free stuff then try replacing things like fuel filters.

There is a chance (perhaps small) that the oil problem and bad idle are related.  If you've got a bad enough oil leak in the valve cover you could have plugs covered in oil which could be hindering your spark.  It's a long shot but it has happened.

[Gunny04]

well it was around 25-30F out when I started it..... Didnt give it a chance to warm up before revving it, that could have killed it I bet, Fuel filter I am told is in the gas tank with the fuel pump (Thats a pain the rear) I'll check the filters.... Probably was a combination of not being warmed up and the filters probably need to be changed. I'll look at it tomorrow morning because the car just got back with my camera as well... I'll post some pictures of the engine and such tomorrow. Thanks for all the replys!

Gunny

[Brett_Henderson]

I'll cross my fingers and hope for something as simple as a pan or valve-cover gasket. I think you can rule out head gasket or a cracked head, as oil in the coolant would also mean coolant in the oil (the oil would start looking like a chocolate milk shake).

My gut instinct, at 140,000 miles, says, "rear main seal"..  :'(

[Mushroom_Farmer]

well it was around 25-30F out when I started it..... Didnt give it a chance to warm up before revving it, that could have killed it I bet, Fuel filter I am told is in the gas tank with the fuel pump (Thats a pain the rear) I'll check the filters.... Probably was a combination of not being warmed up and the filters probably need to be changed. I'll look at it tomorrow morning because the car just got back with my camera as well... I'll post some pictures of the engine and such tomorrow. Thanks for all the replys!

Gunny

The fuel filter should be under the car, on the drivers side, near the left rear wheel. It can be a bugger to get loose too if it hasn't been changed in a while. I think the fittings are metric and you have to be careful not to bend or twist the fuel line. They should run in the range of $11-$15.
The stall could also be caused by oil and gunk getting to the crank sensor. Something else on the oil leak, the 3.1L & 3.4L engines are known for oil leaks due to a bad oil pump drive seal.

[Gunny04]

hmmm rear main seal? the car should have 141,00 or 142,000 miles on it by now. The oil goes in Golden honey colored.... comes out looking the same. Nothing is leaking into the oil.... just oil leaking out. I'll just go out there tomorrow with my camera and take pictures of the various filters and oil leak etc...

Gunny