My 2005 Mazda 6 is losing a lot of oil (about 1 qt a week), even when it's sitting there. and I know next to nothing about vehicles.
I looked under the car and took photos. There's a section of pipe in front of the oil pan that has oil dripping off of it, so I suspect the oil pan is fine?
For a few months, whenever I turn the car off after driving around, I smell oil as soon as I get out of the car.
Any idea what could be causing this? I will try and post a photo.
Thanks!
p.s. Sorry, but I couldn't figure out how to make the photos smaller.
Generally oil flows downwards and backwards. There are many places where oil can leak so it could be almost anything. You just have to look and keep following the oil until you find the source. You can also look at the engine from above with a flashlight.
Smelling burning oil isn't unusual as it only takes a few drops on the exhaust to make that burned oil smell.
Concur with Dane, locating the source of the leak is next step is fixing the leak.
In your second picture, it looks like the oil may be dripping from directly above that spot on the exhaust. In the background I see the oil filter. Try tightening your oil filter and see if that helps. Oil will leak from a loose oil filter whether the car is running or not.
I will typically park over a clean sheet of cardboard and then use the location of the drip on the cardboard to help locate the leak on the engine. A quart a week isn't really a helpful measurement, it's more often expressed in quarts per unit of mileage driven and on an older car, a quart every 1000 miles is considered to be within reason. If the loss of oil is considerable but the spots on the ground or cardboard are not, it's possible the oil is getting into the cylinders and being burned - this is something most mechanical people will notice by odor and it will color the smoke a little blue.
It drips onto exhaust pipe. You want that to set on fire?
Knowing Japanese, it is valve cover gasket. Then it drops down along engine block and onto exhaust. Get it fixed asap.
I doubt it's oil pan but who knows. Japan is not really known for bad oil pan gaskets. Valve cover - sure.
Thank you so much for the replies! Car wouldn't start at all today. Even some whirring sounds today.
Just had it towed into the shop and from my description, they said it could be a few different things, but possibly the valve cover gasket. Unfortunately they're so busy they might not be able to even take a look at it until next Wednesday. Oh well.
Thanks so much for your input, and I will definitely let you know how it all turns out.
Depending upon how long the problem has existed (it could have been there for a while before the leak developed into something easily seen/smelled), the damage may go beyond just the leak. This from the latest incident of the car not wanting to start though that could be due to seasonal cold weather.
Keep a good overview when your repair shop estimate comes. It's a 15 year old car and old cars have a tendency to become mechanic's specials. I gather you're not a mechanic and have no desire to become one. Consider other alternatives.
Got the car back. Seems to work now, but I'm confused since I had an oil change done 6,400 kilometres ago.
The shop said the valve cover gasket is okay. They said the engine cover was seeping oil, and that the oil filter was plugged/jammed so badly that very little oil could actually get to the engine. So they replaced air filter, oil filter and cabin air filter. And the battery was 5 years old so I got that replaced.
So all in, it was only $ 400. But I'm still scratching my head wondering how that could have been the issue when it had only been 6,400 kilometres since my last oil change.
I really hope that that was all that was wrong with it, but I keep thinking there must be more.
Thanks for updating us on your car's problem. Hopefully you will have no more leaks.
You may want to call the shop and ask what was plugging the oil filter. Sludge, oil filter internals? I think it would be worth knowing this so you can keep an eye out between oil changes. Did this same shop do your last oil change?
Has all of the oil been removed from the underside and exhaust of your car? Cleaning the oil from your exhaust pipe is a safety issue, and cleaning oil from everywhere else will help you monitor if you have a leak from behind your engine cover.
My son-in-law has a 2013 Subaru WRX that had some engine problems. He took it to an auto repair shop where the owner/mechanic said he could fix it. I don't know the details but the turbo had to be replaced or repaired. The bill came to over $10,000. The shop had the car for several months until he finally got on it. The very day we drove it home there were problems including stalling and engine warning lights. We want to sell it but I don't think anyone will buy it the way it is. My S-O-L owes me $13,500 because I foot the bill so I would like to get that money back. The problem is the auto mechanic does not seem to want to be bothered with getting the car repaired. We have all receipts. Is there any avenue we can take to get that guy to fulfill his obligations? We live in SE Pa. Thank you.
I have a 2012 Nissan Juke and the schrader value is leaking on the rear passenger tire. I just wanted to replace the schrader valve but the schrader value tool I have isn't working - it won't grab the valve - are there different types of schrader valves for the newer TPMS valve stems or Nissan stems? (I've used this tool in the past for old style rubber stems (with no TPMS) with no problem). Also, when I've called places to see if they would fix it, everyone wants to replace the whole sensor and not just the schrader valve. Is replacing the stem a possibility (TPMS service kits) on this vehicle? Are shops wanting to replace the whole sensor for the money or is that what is recommended?
01-25-21, 04:26 PM
2005 Mazda 6 - losing oil+++
