i was just wondering if there are any spots that are notorious on LT1's for leaking oil. my car started leaking oil a few weeks ago but it wasnt very much at all so i didnt bother with it. tonight i noticed that it was leaking a little more but still not too bad. i figure i need to get it taken care of before it gets out of hand so tomorrow im gonna face the weather and crawl up under the car. im totally clueless right now as to where it could be leaking from and just thought that it could be one of those lt1 things. (like the optispark)

 

The back of the intake manifold on the passenger side is a common place for oil leaks. Kinda indept to fix but not too bad.

I also had a leak on my oil filter mount thingy, small $5 gasket fixed it. (dont' think this is common)

 

I've always had small ones on the front of the oil pan, but i've also tinkered with the pan on cam swaps.

 

Back of the intake manifold, timing chain cover seals, oil pan gasket in the front or back, and the rear main seal are the most common oil leaks, well thats basically all the places it could leak out of...

 

Probably not common, but I had an oil leak it the front of the motor, so assumed it was the oil pan gasket, and changed it. It turned out that wasn't the leak, it was actually the seal in the timing cover around the water pump driveshaft.

 

If the leaks at the front then its likely the waterpump drive seal
If its the rear of engine then its likely the intake leaking
Most common problems

 

uhg I go through 5 courts of mobile 1 a week. I dont know where it leeks but I have solid lines (about 20) all the way up and down my street. you can follow the trails to my work and probably even the places i eat at most. Whats the average labor hours to fix all of the common seals including the rear main seal?

 

O'Reiley sells some oil leak detectant. I havn't used it but stumbled upon it looking for something else. The O'Reiley guy said you just add it to the oil and drive the car a little while. The kit comes with an ultraviolent light and special glasses that you use to find the leak. The detectant in the oil will glow under the light with the glasses on showing you where it is leaking from. Kit was about $20-30 if I remeber right. Havn't used it so I can't say it works for sure, but if I had an oil leak, I would give it a shot.

Wayne

P.S
LenT1, if it were my car, I don't think I would drive it again until I found the problem if it is really that serious. Just my $0.02.

 

First thing I would do is trash the damn Mobil1! That stuff is crap if used in high mileage vehicles and it will increase leaks like nothing else.

 

I beg to differ. I just tore down my 140,000+ mile LT1 to reveal next to no wear, and the hatch marks from honing are still visible. Mobile-1 5w30 it's whole life. Swear by that oil....great stuff.

 

Same here. I was just now thinking "First negative thing I've heard about Mobil 1."

Wayne

 

Its not that he's bashing the oil its just that on older seals and gaskets the synthetic oil leaks easier. If you don't want to tear it down and replace gaskets and seals if you switch to conventional oils then the leaks won't be as bad and may actually stop if using high mileage oils that have additives for seals.

 

You're asking the wrong question. The real question is, "where don't LT1s leak from?" Despite having only 36K miles on mine, I just finshed replacing the oil pan gasket, intake gasket, rear main, and rear transmission seal to dry up the underside of the car. I've still got a small leak on one of the valve covers and another mysterious leak coming from the front of the motor. Welcome to the joys of LT1 ownership.

 

Timing chain / front seal leaks very little

 

Iam on my 3rd LT1, all of them have leaked from the rear of the intake. After resealing the intake I have never had a leak again from that area.

All 3 of mine have leaked out the electrical connetors of the low oil sensor, after replacing with new style sensor, I have never had a leak from there.

I have had to replace opti and water pump drive seals.