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frequently find fresh oil on the exhaust heat shield (LF corner portion). Oil pressure sending unit?

Rocker cover gasket leaking ? probably pretty common on these engines. cheap to replace that to start, a little bit of a pain to do the rear on cuz you cant really see it but can feel where the bolts are and get it off without too much hassle.

My car recently started dripping oil from somewhere unknown at this point, i think its coming from the O-ring on the cap where the oil pump drive is. havent been really worried just yet until i see it pouring out, hopefully i get my 3.1 turbo engine soon and doing a full rebuild on it. just trying to make this one last until then without having to do too much work to it.

PS.. drive my car like a snowplow across the lawn in 2ft of snow ...
Where do you live that there is still snow ? I am in Canada Ontario. and we have not had snow like all this month and its been +5 - +10 C for the most part during the day allthough it was +10 1 day and 5 inches of snow the next morning early this month but melted away pretty quick.

I'm in central/upstate NY and we typically get snow all the way through march; not alot most years. This March it's been a "storm" dumping 2-6" once a week, with some mild days inbetween that melt some of what came down. We're finally starting to see the ground again, but there's 2-4" of snow expected for Friday.

In any case, the bouncy RPM issue fixed itself after a few days of driving. That's stable now, so now I'm onto the EGR & the oil pressure issues. I had Jon pull a code for me last year & it was for the EGR, so I assumed it's just gotten worse to the point where now it's flaking out more & causing the current SES light. It come on daily now, without fail. It's always when I've been at 55-60 for ~5min+ and the second I slow down for a 45mph zone (or traffic), almost at 45mph on the dot the SES light will come on. I used to go to AAP to get it scanned, but their reader was stolen last year & I haven't asked if they got it back or got a new one... or if they have the right adapter (they used to).

I'll report back once I've got the spare EGR on it & taken it for a few drives to see if it still pops a code.

For the oil pressure issue, google tells me acceptable is 10psi per 1k rpm. And some people have said theirs hovers around 20psi, but 40 has always been the norm for my car. I figured I'd bring it up since it suddenly popped up and is far out of my normal range... in case it's pointing to an underlying issue. The last thing I need at the moment is a seized engine. I had thought maybe the leak could be from a gasket, but at the same time I can't see how the oil is ending up on that shield when it's not really close enough to a gasket to collect drippage. I had it running with the hood up and didn't notice any oil collecting on it, just burning off what was on it already. Yet the next time I open the hood, after having driven somewhere (and after the engine cooled), I notice oil had collected on it again. I'll take a quick peek before I leave tomorrow to see if it's still doing that.

glad to hear its running better. when mine was acting up i was like what the heck. it run so great and then 1 day was running like crap, drove it for almost a week like that hopping it would clear itself but then got it scanned.

If its the EGR for sure throwing the code and your not really worried about it, take the bulb out for the light then it wont drive you crazy lol.

When i had mine pollution tested my egr was not even hooked up and it still past. Myself i would rather not have dirty exhaust gasses going through my engine. over time it builds up in the intake and what not.

I almost suspect that the rough idle and running rich was o2 related.. coolant should not act as a conductor but if the wires were wet enough from the spray then it might have been getting false readings or something once in a while to make it run like that then suddenly clear up. But it could have been anything really. hard to say there is so many other things as well.

If its still cold and you have 10w30 oil your pressure should be really high when it first starts up because the oil will be thick when cold. 10 psi to 1k rpm is somewhere around what is safe. My oil pressure gauge reads way off since its a 4 cylinder cluster but the needle is always above the numbers it reads to, and it does move up and down a little so i know it at least has some pressure. i have run semi synthetic blend 5w30 all the time.

The work truck 85 chevy fresh rebuilt 350 has had 15w40 in it until broken in which must have close to 1,000 KM on it by now so time to change that but when it was cold the oil pressure was super high until it warmed up and then it jumped around a little and seemed low at times but i think is still within the 10psi/1k rpm range.

You could maybe try flushing the oil next time you change it but this could cause leaks where some build up might actually be blocking it, but you could take your chances. maybe the pressure sending sensor is dirty or faulty, we had to to change the one on the truck and the readings seem to be more stable.

Hope you can figure it out.

Oil filter! lol

Seriously, if its been fine, and you change the oil and now its acting up, it can't hurt to change it! Filters are cheap and they are easy to change.

The filter got changed with the oil, like it always does lol. I would never see the point in just changing the oil and not changing the filter with it.

You are missing my point. Your new filter could be causing it. As I was reading it earlier, I was inferring that this started after your last oil change??

I had already assumed that you changed your filter when you changed the oil, that was not my worry. lol But new filters can be problems, I had one blow a gasket right after it got changed, so I had to change it again.

Yea I had misunderstood what you were saying. My bad.

Everything seemed good today, save for the "low coolant" light. I put the spare EGR on, went for a normal drive (where it would usually pop a code), and all was well. It felt better at idle (not rough or surging I guess is the term I want lol). The oil pressure stayed steady around 35-45 when warm, even while stopped.

My coolant light is still driving me nuts. I tap the sensor a few times before starting the car up, and that gets the light to turn off, but within a few minutes of the car being on, the light comes back on. The coolant level looks fine though. The temp is fine (usually 1/4, little closer to 1/2 if traffic is backed up), and hasn't gone above 1/2. I had wiped the sensor connections clean before hooking it up (after cleaning the tank), and I double checked earlier to make sure it was snaped on tight. The only thing I have noticed is that a small amount of coolant seems to leak out at the cap. I don't know how the tank looks on the inside, but maybe it's possible the spot where the sensor is is clogged & not filled, so it's registering as low coolant. Or the sensor could be bad. And/or the cap could be bad. I don't know.

I'm glad I'm slowly taking care of some of the important stuff.

Well glad to hear its somewhat better. Sounds like a bad sensor for the coolant, if you ask me.

Want to hear a funny? TODAY, as I was driving the 03 Caravan around town, I had made a stop at one place, still had the engine running, and someone tells me there was oil running out from beneath my engine!

I got under and looked, sure enough it was running right out around where the oil filter is attached. So I shut it down, wipe the filter off, only to find out it was WAY loose, I literally bumped it and it moved! So I tightened it back up, took about 2.5 turns, and now its fine, or seems to be. Not leaking anyway. I had lost only a quart of oil, so not too bad. Topped it off, no problem.

Funny part is, I do all my own oil changes, and I know it was tightened properly, first time I have ever had that happen on any vehicle I have owned. Just goes to show you that crap happens.

That would have totally sucked if you hadnt of stopped where you did and drove another mile and run out of oil and seized the engine. crazy... i probably over tighten things because im worried of that lol. Maybe someone doesnt like you ? that would be a pretty dirty trick to do to someone.

DTMAce wrote:Want to hear a funny? TODAY, as I was driving the 03 Caravan around town, I had made a stop at one place, still had the engine running, and someone tells me there was oil running out from beneath my engine!

You're lucky someone noticed... or even said something. It seems like these days alot of people take the "not my problem" approach & don't bother to say a word. I've had the same deal happen with one of my spark plugs, not that anyone could have seen & pointed it out lol. The thing slowly backed itself out of the socket over a fairly long period of time, and one day I went to pull forward from a stop and there was a loud pop; turns out that was it basically firing itself out of the hole.

Some days I really hate my car. Walking into the garage today I saw a couple dried drips on the floor, look under my car to see fresh oil on the floor. I'm losing more than I thought, and it's definitely coming from somewhere on the upper driver side of the engine. That side of the engine (and anyhing in the path) is always wet with oil... except the transmission, which is perfectly dry & clean. I wish I could pinpoint the leak so I could fix it.

Checked all the spark plugs because I knew one was coming loose... could hear the ticking more noticably lately. All were good except the rear left (I can't remember what cylinder that is; 1 or 5 maybe?). I could grab the boot & very easily untighten it with my fingers. It's the same plug as the last time. None of the other ones back themselves out except that one. It also had a good amount of ash deposit on the one side of the ground electrode. I've only changed the plugs on this car twice, and both times the plugs only had a light ashy coating/coloring, not any lumpy deposits. Once we get reliably warm weather (and I'm not sick), I'll take a weekend to replace all the plugs, and the wires too this time.

as far as the oil leak goes, have you changed the valve covers at any time? I know thats what was leaking on mine, that and the valve cover gromets where the bolts go through.

Oil leaks happen.

I don't know of too many cars that have our age and mileage that don't have a leak someplace. However as a general rule of thumb, older cars should not lose more than a quart of oil between oil changes. This is considered normal if they do. Mine unfortunately is seeping from the place where we had to weld the pan from the rock I hit last August. Not bad or anything, but annoying. As a few people on here know, aluminum is hard to weld if there are any contaminants around the weld area. I also see a very small amount that comes from the end of the oil pump shaft, which is typical on our cars. Yours sounds like it may be seeping from the timing chain cover, which will be a PITA to change, but as long as it isn't leaking more than I said above, think of it as rust preventive! Just clean your engine off every so often with some high pressure or steam, it will help keep down the mess.

When (and if) I ever get around to replacing my engine, as I know it can't run forever and someday I want a 3400 dropped in, I will rebuild whatever I put back will all new seals, etc., so that it doesn't leak for a while. lol

But that may be a long ways off, or right before bfest, who knows. LOL

Other thing that I forgot about over there is the distributor o-ring... that always starts leaking.

hahah

I said oil pump shaft, but meant what you said, the distributer o-ring, but I think they were the same thing?? Or am I mistaken?