I have a 2007 Mazda 3, almost out of warranty. For about 4-5 weeks I have been finding tiny oily spots on the garage floor near the driver side front wheel, just occasionally not every day. It is not brake fluid, anti-freeze or transmission fluid or grease.
Today I came out of a store and noticed a fresh spot under the car. There was oil dripping off the bushing in the lower control arm. The top of it was clean. I could not see any oil dripping from above. The bushing is in the area where the drips are, but that makes no sense. Bushings never have oil in them, do they?
Also, where is the rear main seal on this car? Which side of the car is it on?
By any chance was the oil changed 4 or 5 weeks ago?
The first thing you need to check is for a leaky oil filter.
The filter might be loose or a much worse possibility is that the old seal is stuck to the engine & you now have 2 seals.
Dont ask me how I know this, but if this is what happened the second seal can suddenly blow out & the oil will be pumped out on the ground in a few seconds. Not good.
Can you see the oil filter?
Aside of the ideas from 87 Ranger, you should notify the dealer ASAP so the warranty covers it if it’s repair issue. I might be a leaky filter, and then the fix is pretty straight forward, but if it is something more you certainly don’t want to lose the warranty coverage.
The rear main seal will be on the side that the transmission is on – almost certainly the driver’s side of the engine. No, bushings don’t have a significant amount of oil in them. Some fluid or other might have gotten in from a fluid spill during servicing. But it wouldn’t last long probably.
If you do your own work I think that you are going to have to slither under the vehicle and track down the leak. (Use ramps or jackstands). Or you need to take the car to a mechanic. Since it’s still in warranty, why not the dealer?
The oil filter cannot be the problem. Took me nearly an hour to find it. :-))It’s on the front of the engine, toward the center near the bottom. It has a permanent type of housing. You unscrew the bottom and insert a new filter in it. It uses o-rings instead of gaskets.
I think you are probably right. I don’t know how the oil got there, since nothing above it or even remotely close to it is oily. I think maybe someone must have steam cleaned the ‘accident’.
The wonderful mechanic who change the oil told me the rear main seal was seeping and I should get it fixed under warranty. I just assumed the spots were coming from the seal. But I really have no idea where the rear main seal is.
The dealer denied the seal is seeping. There is only residue, not a leak. They told me to have it checked again at the next oil change. It would be covered by the power train warranty so I actually have a lot of time left.
The next oil change I will take my camera along and let the mechanic take a picture of the leak. 