Hey all, I just purchased my latest Z28, a 1998 A4 with 121k on the clock. Got it two days ago, checked out great the first day. I had it in the a mechanical for an oil change and inspection, said it looked fine.

Yesterday I find a puddle on my driveway (6" in diameter roughly) so I whipe it down and drive to work this morning hoping maybe it was just oil from the mechanics. I get underneath the car and the bottom is covered in oil again, and it seems as if oil is dripping on the driver-side catalytic convertor and seems isolated toward the rear of the engine.

So before I bring it into a dealership to find the leak, does any have any suggestions on where the oil could be coming from? This is my first LS1, and it just seems odd that the oil leak would be coming from a spot that could leak down onto the exhaust. The oil filter still looked clean, though I'm going to pop underneath and change my oil myself this evening.

Thanks guys.

 

check around the rear main and pan

 

I will. Anyone know how hard is it to change the rear main seal?

Also (I'm an LS1 newb) other than the filter and plug is there anything on the drivers side of the engine that could leak oil?

 

The pan and rear main seal is probably where the problem is. Put it up on stands and let it run for a while then go under and check to see where the leak is coming from. Do the easy stuff yourself before you pay a dealer to look at it.

 

Thanks mook99TA, I did just that (put it up on stands and let it run) and saw that there are a couple of bolts missing from the pan toward the front (is that normal?) front bolts on the pan were loose, the two bottom bolts from the tranny to the engine were missing, and the oil leak seems to be accumilating around the pan bolts in the center and not much higher.

So it looks like someone did a half-*** job of replacing the oil pan gasket. Anyone have any advice on replacing one of these?

 

The pan is a structural member of the engine. So it is critical that it be mounted correctly. It needs all of the bolts in there and torqued properly.
The pan gasket is a thick aluminum with rubber seals bonded to it. You'd need to drop the k-member to get the pan low enough to change it. But you could lower the pan down and wipe the mating surfaces with a clean rag and bolt it back together and replace all of the missing bolts.

 

Ok, follow-up to this I took it into the dealership for an estimate and to fix it. Looks like I'm out $1250 to get the oil pan gasket and rear main seal replaced.

Hopefully when someone else is searching 'oil pan gasket dealership quote' they'll find this thread

 

would expect the majority of the cost is for the rear main as that is fairly big job; further, if it is just the pan gasket that is leaking you should be able to fix the problem by just doing the pan job. You probably could do that job yourself (just get a Chiltons for torque spec etc.,) or maybe see what the repair shop quotes to do just the pan

best of luck

Tim