Oil Leaks


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Got off the freeway this afternoon and as I slowed to a stop at the access road intersection I smelled oil and saw a cloud of blue smoke.

"Gee someone has a bad oil leak " I thought.

Went on down the road and that cloud seemed to be following me .

Suddenly my oil pressure started bouncing to zero and back.

"Gee , I have a bad oil leak " I thought.

Pulled over and saw a bunch of oil dripping under my truck. Popped the hood and there was oil everywhere but I couldn't be sure of the source.

To make a long story short, I eventually learned that the oil filter gasket had split in half.

I guess I should consider myself lucky; at least it was not a main bearing seal or something really complicated and expensive; but I never heard of an oil filter failing (just idiots at the oil change shops forgetting to install or tighten them).

Edited by Pete_C
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Our Hondas and Toyotas have never had that prob. Our PT Cruiser hasn't had that happen either but it is still a heap. Yeah having little ring break must suck. I change my own oil and make sure to change that ring on te filter everytime i do. Some oil change places don't bother to change it.

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Gee Whiz what an awful thing to have happen!

I hope the loss of oil didn't do damage to your engine.

I just related your experience to my hubby, he said he'd never heard of that happening before.

Also he wants to know what brand of oil filter/gasket it was so he can avoid that brand.

I was wondering if the filter had been put on crooked, if the pressure on one side could have split the gasket? (Hubby says no.)

Hope things are back to normal for you now, and no more such stresses to life.

P.S. We just had a wierd experience this weekend. My hubby was cleaning the battery connections on our Subaru Justy, and trying to get things clamped down tight but the connector was loose and couldn't be tightened. Thinking of replacing whole thing, he traced it back to engine block but found the other end of that ground wire which should have been screwed to the engine block was missing the screw that normally keeps it secure and it was just barely touching the block. He hadn't had any previous trouble starting car either, so it was still doing it's job. Praise God for keeping it in contact for however long it had been like that. With all the potholes and rough roads around here, I am surprised anything holds together on a vehicle.

By the way, when I logged in here you were only other member on board. So where is everyone?

Pat

God bless everyone.

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Never heard of one splittin' in two ... Plenty of people accidentally leave the old one on the block (they don't check that it came off with the old filter) and the doubled gaskets fail ... but splitting? Nope.

I forgot to put the oil filler cap back on before a long highway trip. At speed, I noticed nothing. When we finally arrived smoke BILLOWED out from under the hood. Guess I had left a smelly trail -- Oops.

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Well, not sure if it was the gasket or the oil filter, but YES it happened to one of my cars--lots of black smoke, the oil light went on, luckily my Dad borrowed my car at the time and he knew just what to do. He said (through the mechanic) that the filter was installed wonky or something to that effect--the oil filter just fell off!. Luckily, he stopped right away and shut off the engine and nothing was damaged.

That was the car that also dropped its gas tank 1 mile after I exited the highway. The mechanic said that if I was on the highway when the gas tank came loose, I'd be a Rice Krispie (the hoses were supposed to disconnect, they didn't, I dragged the gas tank through an intersection till I could safely pull off the side of the road!)

Saying a prayer to keep you safe!!

Liz

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Very interesting Pete_C, lucky thing that you caught it in time!

I had an old Tercel that leaked oil, down the side of the block, but, it wasn't worth it to fix the leak ( the repair bill would exceed the value of the wreck). So I would regularly top it up with some oil..................oil is cheap:-)

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The brand? Tech something; the Walmart brand. Never again .

I hate oil leaks, bad for the environment as well as making it hard to spot other problems and causing dirt and hence water and rust to accumulate.

Hadn't had so much as a drop of leakage until this happened.

To really top things off, I have had allergies or a head cold all week and decided to try Loratadine-D this morning. I still haven't been able to get to sleep. One more on the Never again list. It did clear my sinuses nicely and stopped the post nasal drip ; but I have been trying to get to sleep for over six hours now and finally gave up and decided to see if some online time would lull me into finally sleeping.

Strange thing was the idiot light never came on, I just noticed the guage bottoming out and bouncing back.

I also am a firm believer in treating an engine with those molecular oil treatments and teflon just for such emergencies and I think that slick 50 and the whatever the other one was saved my engine for sure.

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Sinus probs...

Sudafed, the *Red Ones* and only 1-2 a day (in 24-hrs.)... Cleared me up for years when I had problems..

Yeah, I used to prefer Actifed; but cannot find it around here any more.

In Texas, anything with Pseudoephedrine in it must now be stored in the pharmacy with controlled substances. You have to wait in line and get it from the pharmacist and are limited to two one week dosages. Some moron thinks this will stop methamphetamine production; it just makes it nearly impossible for the average congested person to get relief. They now have PE (Phenyl Ephrine, the stuff they pulled off the market ten years ago because it is virtually useless and increases the risk of stroke and heart attack markedly) at half the strength they used to sell it at (which was totally uneffective then) for Over The Counter relief. Most generics and store brand pseudoephedrine products have dissappeared since the sales dropped so drastically once the product was hidden from customers. You have to know what you want and ask for it and most of the time you get "Sorry we do not carry that product. Next."

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When I was doing automotive repair work at my old shop I had a couple of customers that I had to do a bearing job for because of a cheap oil filter's gasket tearing. Of course they kept driving until the engine started to rattle. The idiot lights actually worked but they chose to ignore it. Their oil changes were done by one of those quick change shops. The filters were over tightened. I also did a bearing job on one that the same oil change shop didn't pull the old gasket and with the double gasket it just blew out. Same deal though with driving continually while the idiot light was on. That shop made me money. I always buy my filters from NAPA.

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Pete, Actifed is the best thing that works for my allergies! Try Dollar Stores, Family Dollar, Dollar General, etc--I have always been able to find it at those places (well, it's the generic version, same thing) and cheaper to boot!

Heeheehee, this thread is going from oil leaks to booger leaks.... :D

Liz

Edited by blim
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Hi Pete,

Same problem here in Oregon with purchasing anything with Pseudo-ephedrine in it, or I should say it is worse here because you have to go to the Doctor for a short term only prescription for it, plus sign a narcotic type statement and present all sorts of id. Yeah it's available all up and down the West Coast via drug traffickers, but not on pharmacy shelves for normal people to buy. Now they are going after Iodine, and MSM which is a great product for arthritis pain relief for humans an animals but supposedly used to "cut" narcotics, so what's next to ban - powdered sugar or flour? Cat Litter and Draino, and bleach are all used by Meth makers too, so will they be banned someday too?

I don't know why people are allowing this to happen, to me it is a bigger infringement on privacy and rights than a lot of stuff the press is yelling about. And it is such a useless attempt at solving the Meth problems.

As for a good product to dry up sinus congestion, try Quercetin with Bromelain available in most health food sections of stores in vitamin/supplement area. Many foods such as onions contain it (that's why onions clear up your sinuses.) It is non-drowsy, only problem is it only works about 4 hours at a stretch but I would never return to the other stuff I have used over the years. I get mine at Swanson Health Products. 1-800-437-4148 ask for catalog, I haven't been to impressed with their website, but catalog is good as is the service and prices.

Pat

God bless everyone.

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Very interesting Pete_C, lucky thing that you caught it in time!

I had an old Tercel that leaked oil, down the side of the block, but, it wasn't worth it to fix the leak ( the repair bill would exceed the value of the wreck). So I would regularly top it up with some oil..................oil is cheap:-)

Generally when it leaks down the side; it is leaking from the valve cover gasket. It dried out or the screws were overtightented. You can just remove the bolts and lift the valve cover and pull out the old gasket and put on a generous amount of RTV silicone caulk. Set the cover on evenly and put in the screws but do not tighten. When it has cured overnight; tighten them to about ten or fiften foot pounds (snug but not to tight) . No more leak.

Pete, Actifed is the best thing that works for my allergies! Try Dollar Stores, Family Dollar, Dollar General, etc--I have always been able to find it at those places (well, it's the generic version, same thing) and cheaper to boot!

Heeheehee, this thread is going from oil leaks to booger leaks.... :D

Liz

The problem here in Texas is that the morons passed a law that any product containing PseudoEphedrine must be dispensed by a pharmacist and kept in the pharmacy in a controlled access area behind the counter along with controlled substances (Narcotics) . In addition they limit how much you can buy and either require you have a "membership card" or provide ID so they can log the transaction. You can't buy it at Family Dollar, Dollar General etc any more since they do not have pharmacys and do not have a Pharmacist on the staff.

Edited by Pete_C
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When I was doing automotive repair work at my old shop I had a couple of customers that I had to do a bearing job for because of a cheap oil filter's gasket tearing. Of course they kept driving until the engine started to rattle. The idiot lights actually worked but they chose to ignore it. Their oil changes were done by one of those quick change shops. The filters were over tightened. I also did a bearing job on one that the same oil change shop didn't pull the old gasket and with the double gasket it just blew out. Same deal though with driving continually while the idiot light was on. That shop made me money. I always buy my filters from NAPA.

Haha, the Check Engine Light on my 1985 Pontiac Sunbird Fasthatch ment I was goin' up a hill :lol:. Actually any time you high revved that engine that damn light would come on. We were messin with it in the driveway one day and was revving it and light came on then shortly went off.

In my 95 Civic it meant ................................................................... my Oxygen Sensor was broke. Ya'll thought it was gonna be a stupid joke. HA!!

Also my bro works at the new napa out where I live. He's bout to be promoted to assistant manager I think. Been there a month and already gettin promotions I tell ya. Well ya know he is the only other one besides the manager with a key though so why not.

Edited by Honda_Boy
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