2000 Mercury Villager. There’s an oil leak from the are shown in the picture. This is on the under-carraige of the car. The front of the car is to the left and It comes from the engine above and goes towards the rear of the car. You can see the oil that has seeped from the joint. What’s this called? Do you think it’s an easy to replace gasket of some kind? Or will this be a tough job for an amateur? Thanks.
That’s the exhaust flange, and oil won’t leak from that area.
The engine is leaking oil from somewhere and dripping down onto the exhaust flange.
Tester
The best way to find the source in this case might be with a blacklight-sensitive dye kit, available at any parts store. You simply add it to the oil, run it per the instructions, and then look with the blacklight. The path will glow like a glowworm.
I’m going to go against the grain here a little bit. The miles and so on are not mentioned in regards to this vehicle. From the pic the engine area appears to be a bit nasty and could mean age and high miles.
If the seam on that exhaust connection is not perfectly tight (and many are not) then maybe the oil around that seam is due to oil consumption through the combustion chambers and it’s being huffed out the exhaust with a certain amount of it making its way through the exhaust pipe seam.
Was your oil changed recently? If so…the leak above your exhaust pipe could be the Oil filter… I know on many a vehicle when I change the Oil Filters Oil will run down the engine and onto the exhaust…pretty much exactly where this exhaust joint is located… I usually just wipe it off and the rest will burn off from the heat and turn into smoke for a little bit. If the oil filter continues to leak…AND it is located above that joint…you will see exactly what is in this picture.
I would need to look at some pics of that engine to see where the oil filter is located…it may be the oil filter. If the filter is not in that area…something is leaking down onto your exhaust.
NOPE…Its not the oil filter… I just saw a few pics of that engine if it is indeed a V6… The V6 oil filter is up front near the Harmonic Damper. Sorry. Well something above is leaking oil down below onto the exhaust…Watch out Below!!
Blackbird
"…if it is indeed a V6… "
All of them were equipped with a V-6, simply because the Mercury Villager was a rebadged Nissan Quest.
They all have a 3.3 liter Nissan V-6, whether the badge reads Mercury or Nissan.
Just getting back to this so hadn’t read any posts but here’s a picture. This isn’t my car but it’s the same engine. If you look at the screw which is directly below the oil cap the smoke comes up from just underneath that point and to the right as we’re looking at it. If that’s where the head gasket is I don’t think it’s coming out of there as I don’t see any fresh oil there. I’ll drive the car and then stop and shut off the engine. Then when I look there it’s probably about 30 seconds before the smoke starts appearing. I’ll look at the dye kit but in the meantime any help is appreciated. Thanks
