Original post all over the place, but this car is getting to me!
I am finding oil drippings in different places under the car, searched for source of leak, to no avail. Small amount of oil found in water reservoir.
What would be some tips or ideas of where to search next for the problem?
I was disappointed to eventually discover that I have no ear for car sounds. Other people say, “listen to your exhaust, you have a burnt valve.” I couldn’t tell, but there was a burnt exhaust valve. Naturally I think you have a hole in a piston. 100% wrong, as always but blown head gaskets can happen and I don’t mind being wrong most of the time.
If this is an older GM car, what looks like dirty oil in the coolant reservoir my be the product of Dexcool left in too long. The usual places to look for oil leaks are, from the bottom up: oil pan , drain plug,rear maim seal, oil sending unit, oil filter or mount, head gasket, valve cover or cam cover. The closer you get to the leak, the cleaner the oil will be, if you have clean oil that is. There is dye you can put in the engine to use a black light with but I have never needed it to find an oil leak. You are seeing oil in different spots because driving your car or having the radiator fans come on blow it all over. If you are persistent in wiping and looking you will find it.
Sometimes de-greasing your engine helps.
The op tagged it as ford escape, so water in oil - head gasket, intake gasket? External leaks also point to head, or engine cover. What side of engine are drips on? Also, fan could blow oil around. I’d degrease exterior engine to identify where leaks may be originating from.
Are you having any other symptoms? Rough engine, weak, missing, no power, sluggish? Check engine light?
Dripping to the bottom, front n center/ It tends to have issues picking up speed going up hills (usually turn OD off when climbing and does well, lately its revs high RPMs and cant go into lower gear… Its a little rough (bsimilar to bad gasoline), engine light comes on n off randomly, no set pattern. Took manifold apart , it looks gunky, but not the source.
Possible the main seal? Thoughts?
ford escape
As vehicles “mature”, certain problems that develop are “common” to specific vehicles. To see if that’s the situation here, we’ll need complete vehicle information.
Please, what is the Ford Escape’s…
Model-Year?
Engine I.D. Which engine (displacement or number of cylinders)?
Approximate number of miles on odometer?
CSA
So the check engine light is on, and goes off intermittently. That means that you probably have old codes stored in it. I’d pull all the codes and see where the engine is telling you to check first
March of 2003 Ford Escape. Some things were changed in the make of the 03 Escape in the month of April,
V6 3.0 L. Front wheel drive, 178,000 miles