Ok, I've had this car for over 3 years and about 23k miles...

I'm pretty sure since the day I bought it it had a very small oil leak (pretty sure the intake manifold). I always checked the oil level... I might have to add 1/2 a quart in between every oil change, tops.

Now the leak seems to have gotten progressively worse over the past two weeks or so... The other day I had the car parked in a spot for hours, and there was a noticeable spot...

Today I had the car parked (60 miles from home) for only about an hour and the leak seemed to be worse than how the leak was a couple days ago (when the car was parked for several hours).

Also, right as I was parking the car today, the oil pressure went quite low (definetly not to 0 but pretty close to if not at the redline) and the check gauges light came on. Anyways, when I was ready to leave (an hour later), I checked the oil level with the dipstick, and it seemed fine (halfway between add and full marks, and the engine was quite hot still).

I also started up the car and the oil level seemed pretty good (when I was at idle with the engine at operating temperature it was probably at about the 1/8th mark, 10 psi). Driving home the oil pressure was about the 1/2 (40 psi) mark at 3000 rpm.

What could this be? The valve cover gaskets are definetly not leaking, what about the front or rear main seal, intake manifold getting worse, oil pressure sending unit?

Oh also, FYI it was a fairly hot day out in Los Angeles with a lot of stop and go traffic if this has anything to do with what my problem might be.

Thanks!

 

The back of the intake manifold is notorious for leaking. Mine was leaking a spot the size of a softball when i was parked for about an hour so i was having to add about a quart or two every week. I went too long without enough oil and it lead to spun bearing so be careful about the oil. I would for sure get that leak fixed soon before the bottom of your car gets covered in oil making everything that much harder to work on. I just replaced the engine in my car and let me tell you i was coming out black everytime i worked on it because everything was so oily underneath. Your oil pressure problem could be your sending unit, I have a 97 Sonoma with a 4.3 and every once in a while the oil pressure will rise as high as it will go on the guage and then i will look back down later and it will be normal again and this is when i am just going down the road so i dont think its my pickup and i think its something electrical like the sending unit. Of course your oil pump could be going bad but you will have to observe some more readings to tell like possibly hooking a live gauge to it. Dustin.

 

TTT

Thanks for the help, anyone else have any advice on why this might have happened?