Oil leak question

[Mark]

My daughter had an accident in her 2004 base a few years ago, she spun out and slammed backwards into an earth berm. The damage wasn't too severe and I had it repaired, but ever since there's been a slight oil ooze around the oil filter. There is oil on the filter but it doesn't seem to be coming from the top of the filter itself, so I'm guessing it's the mounting base. I don't know how it's mounted to the block and can't really get a good view of it. Or it could be from the sending unit but I can't really see it well enough to tell.

What seems more likely? And is the sending unit difficult to replace?

Thanks

[Mark]

Nothing at all? Nobody knows or even has an opinion?

I had it in to a dealer last week for the air bag recall and asked them to put it on a lift and see if they could tell where it was coming from. The answer as relayed by the service writer was "oil cooler lines". What???

[Caretaker]

No one in cyberworld can offer anything substantive on what you are asking. If there is an oil leak, any competent professional mechanic can visually determine where it is coming from. Unfortunately you have not taken your car to one yet as you stated you went to the dealer
Start a relationship with a mechanic in your area who is trusted by locals/neighbors/peers. Your new mechanic will figure it out.

[brandon4987]

Nothing at all? Nobody knows or even has an opinion?

I had it in to a dealer last week for the air bag recall and asked them to put it on a lift and see if they could tell where it was coming from. The answer as relayed by the service writer was "oil cooler lines". What???

It's hard to just guess what's more likely given the fact there was an accident. It's not a normal situation where a certain part is known to wear out or go bad. If you want to diagnose yourself it's not too difficult. First spray and wipe everything clean in the area of the leak, I'm sure there's a lot of caked on oil accumulated if it's been leaking for years. Next either have a look underneath while running the car, or purchase some UV leak detection dye an pour a little bit into your oil. Run the car and Inspect with a UV light and it will make it simple to see where its leaking from.

That being said, If you're not interested in diagnosing yourself, take it to a local mechanic. Should be an easy find for them.

[joatmon]

is the sending unit difficult to replace?

The only procedure the matrix manual shows is
"REMOVE OIL PRESSURE SWITCH ASSY
a)Disconnect the oil pressure switch connector and remove the oil pressure switch"

with this picture

ops.jpg (62.62 KiB) Viewed 2953 times

Looks straightforward, if you have a socket that fits

I can't find anything that shows the removal of the surface that the oil filter attaches to. This picture ( from https://magengines.com/product/engine-t ... z-fe-vvti/ ) shows the oil filter and what it mounts to on the base 1zz engine, and it looks to me like its just part of the engine block, not anything separately removable

1zz.jpg (62.44 KiB) Viewed 2952 times

I had it in to a dealer last week for the air bag recall and asked them to put it on a lift and see if they could tell where it was coming from. The answer as relayed by the service writer was "oil cooler lines". What???

Oil cooler lines are metal pipes/rubber hoses that run some of the automatic transmission fluid through a section of the radiator to help keep the tranny form overheating. If those are leaking, then the fluid that leaks should be reddish in color, the amount of red kinda depends on how old the fluid is, but should be a different color than the engine oil. I don't remember if the routing of those lines make it feasible that the leaked fluid would be on the oil filter. Perhaps the oil cooler lines are leaking, independent of whatever is putting oil on the filter

I know you said it doesn't seem to be leaking at the oil filter seal, but here's a remote possibility to check the next time you have the oil changed. The oil filters have a flat rubber gasket ring that's part of the replaceable oil filter and should come off with the old filter, but there's a remote chance the when an old filter was removed, the old ring stuck to the engine instead of the old filter, and the new ring won't give a good seal mashed up against the old seal. I've changed oil in cars a lot, and its never happened to me, but its something I always look for when changing the filter, make sure the old ring is still on the old filter before putting the new filter on

[Mark]

Thanks, that picture actually helps to clarify. I just wanted to make sure that the oil filter mount wasn't bolted to the block and maybe needed a new gasket.

I change my own oil and always clean and inspect the filter seat and oil the new seal before installing. I changed it yesterday and got a better look this time, and I'm pretty sure it's the sending unit. There's not really anything else there that it could be coming from. Has anyone here replaced one on a Vibe and was it difficult? A Youtube video I found shows removing the radiator to get to it from the top, but it looked like it would be accessible from below, especially with the oil filter removed.

I know what oil cooler lines are, and I'm also fairly certain that there aren't any connected to the engine block just above the oil filter mount. No idea what the tech could have been talking about, but maybe he got mixed up on which car the service writer was asking about.

[joatmon]

I know what oil cooler lines are ...

I was being lazy, didn't bother to look at your previous posts. If I had, I would have seen I didn't need to explain ...

At least the oil pressure sensor is affordable if you decide to just replace it.

[Mark]

I picked up a new sending unit yesterday ($13 at Auto Zone) and a socket to fit it (24mm), along with a can of spray degreaser. After cleaning it off I thought about replacing it but realized that if I didn't drain the oil first I might be about to create a large mess on my garage floor. But I did want to get the wrench on it to see if I'd be able to replace it without having to pull other parts. Using a knuckle I was able to tighten the old one about a full turn. So I'll keep an eye on it and probably go ahead and replace it when I do the next oil change.

[ColonelPanic]

Did you use anything for thread sealant (teflon tape or some such?) I've read conflicting info on this over the years.

I have a new sending unit that's been waiting to go on for a few years. I get a tiny bit of grime collecting on the top of the filter throughout the course of the OCI, my best guess is it's coming from around the sending unit. It hasn't worsened over the years, so I've just left it for now. But some day I do need to get that thing on there before it decides to give up and puke out all the oil.

[Mark]

Did you use anything for thread sealant (teflon tape or some such?) I've read conflicting info on this over the years.

No, but all I did really was tighten the old one up some. The new one has what looks like blue thread lock already on the threads.

[Mark]

Followup: No sign of oil on the sending unit or filter since tightening the sending unit about 6 weeks ago. Not sure now if I'll even bother replacing it, or just keep the new one on hand as a spare.

[Mark]

Followup #2: Changed the oil in Frosty last weekend and noticed that it was leaking again around the sensor, so I went ahead and replaced it. Looked at it yesterday and so far it's clean.

[Vulcan]

I'll have to check that area next time I'm changing oil as well ~ sounds like something many of the cars of that age might be needing

[zbyers]

My oil pressure sensors has a slight leak... One of these days I will check it out.