I have a 2001 Dodge Intrepid 6cyl. 3.2 My car appears to need 2 qts. of oil a week and there’s no apparent leaking underneath when the car is sitting… There is however signs of oil on the motor…Where could the oil be leaking from? Thank you, Clance Alb, NY
It might be burning it
Thank you for your quick response… But, what about the oil that sits on top of the motor… Are there places besides the oil cap where the oil can be filtering out…
And when your car is burning 2 qts of oil a week. wouldn’t there be a big blue/black cloud coming from my exhaust?
Oil on top of an engine is usually leaking out of the valve cover(s).
The catalytic converter(s) can remove most or all of the smoke.
Seals and gaskets can leak oil. If you remove the oil fill cap on a warm engine, is there alot of smoke. Emission system is ok? Too much pressure in the crankcase can force oil out everywhere. How is the oil pressure? My info shows about 5 psi at idle and 45–105 at 3000 rpms.
Thank you for all of your responses… You’ve been helpful… Is this and easy fix? expensive/inexpensive? Is it time to purchase a new car? These are all the questions wandering through my brain… thanks again
Depends.
Are you going to buy a brand new car, or just another used car?
If its a new car, then yes, you should buy that.
That way, it won’t have any engine oil leaks, and if it does, you just hand it over to the dealership, and they fix it for you.
I hate to tell you this, but you have to figure out things on your own.
If you see oil on top of your engine, common sense should be screaming at the top of its lungs telling you that something on your engine isn’t properly sealed, and you should probably take it to a mechanic to get an estimate on how much it is going to cost to fix the leak, and exactly what the cause of the leak is.
Replacing your car because of an oil leak is stupid, but lots of people do it.
Keeps the economy going.
BC.
[i] The catalytic converter(s) can remove most or all of the smoke.[/i]
Until they burn out. ?
Is it time to purchase a new car? That is for you to decide. I would bet that it would be cheaper to fix the problem than to get a different car that may have worse problems. Without knowing more about the current condition of your car, a guess is about as good as it gets.