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Strange Oil Leak

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ncjetskier

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I have a pretty good oil leak (about 1/2 of a thimble) So last weekend, I put the car on the lift and dropped the plastic cover under the engine. The engine looked perfectly clean with no oil drips. I looked (with the help of a mirror) around the valve covers and all looked good. The plastic tray and oil pan are oil free and clean.


The oil drip seems to dripping 51 inches back from the front tires - next to the air conditioning drain hose. This is pretty far back on the car. I know it is oil as I also changed the oil last weekend and it is fresh oil. The leak existed before me changing the oil and filter. Any ideas???
 
#2 ·
I'm sorry but I think it might of been easier just to post photos of the area you are talking about. You did a great job, down to 51" from the front tire but I have to be honest I don't know I'm going to get under a GT with a tape measure to figure out where you're talking about. However, if you post photos it would be much easier to ascertain it.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
Update: The drip is coming from the gear box bracket. The gear box pan appears to be sealed, however even with a scope, I cannot find the leak. The fluid is honey colored, so it is difficult to tell whether it is engine oil, gear oil or F1 fluid. Here are my questions: 1) does the gear box pan seal go bad often? 2) How do I measure the gear box oil to see if this is what is leaking? 3) Is the F1 fluid also near this part of the car?
 
#7 ·
Well if you have a GT it`s most likely an automatic and doesn`t have F1 fluid.. Sounds like you have an automatic with a leak from the ZF transmission as the fluid is honey colored...You know they make cell phones now that can snap pics? :wink2: A picture is worth a thousand words or at least several post on here..Jason
 
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Discussion starter · #8 ·
Thanks Jason for the response. I will try to post pictures this afternoon.
Is there a way to measure how much gear oil is in the transmission or to add fluid? The nearest dealership is 2 1/2 hours away and I would hate to burn up the trans due to lack of fluid. Thanks.
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
Here are the pictures of where it appears to be dripping from. The forward bracket bolt is where the oil drops down off the car.


My worry is that the car is was parked over an old sheet of plywood that already had oil stains (from yard equipment), so there is no way of me knowing how much oil has leaked. This could have been going on for a couple of months unnoticed as the board soaks up the oil. That is why it is important for me to know how much oil is left in the transmission before driving it two hours. Any help would be great - thanks.
 

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#11 ·
Yeah, it looks like it has a small transmission weep..On the Jags and Land Rovers they like to leak at the electrical sleeve on the right rear on the transmission..If it shifts ok, then I would just drive it to your dealer...checking or adding fluid is not terribly difficult for a tech, but for a DIY it maybe a PITA.. Jason
 
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Discussion starter · #13 ·
Jason, you were correct, it is the sleeve at the electrical connector at the transmission. $1,086 to fix. Valve gasket starting to leak (just starting) at a cost of $2,600. Time to buy a shop manual. Thanks for the help!!!
 
#14 ·
No sweat...and if you ask most of the guys on here I`m kinda for the shop in a lot of matters...Not this one...Those prices are crazy! 2600.00 to replace cam cover gaskets is nuts...The parts are a few hundred bucks...You need to find a good independent shop....Jason
 
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Discussion starter · #16 ·
You are correct. Not a good experience (and I purchased the car from them). I asked as a courtesy to get rid of the #$@#@ wrench as I do my own oil changes and maintenance - and I am paying them over $1K to fix an oil leak and the response was "well if you provide all the receipts showing you used the correct parts ........" I knew I was not going to be happy. Here is their estimate to fix the valve cover leak. (I told them not to do it as I could not have a beer around any of my friends and tell them I was stupid enough to pay $2.6K for a valve cover gasket and spark plugs - as I would never hear the end of it!
 

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#17 ·
That place sounds like a bunch of aholes...We have a saying at our place and see if it makes any sense in this case..." If you want a hamburger with tarter sauce, we`ll make you one..We don`t recommend it, but we`ll make you one regardless" bottom line...do what the customer wants. You want the service light reset...Please do it and the rest is not their concern...We would do it for free if you spent 1k BTW...I would find a new place to get your car worked on and in 2016 a dealer shouldn`t have hand written invoices or estimates as well...lame....Jason
 
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#18 · (Edited)
Wow, totally agree Jason. I have all computerized estimates, and PPIs and I'm not even that big. I care about quality and reputation. Also ncjetskier, I have a few topics I haven't had the time to add to my website yet, and one of them was a pic by pic diy for valve covers. It's difficult to juggle a lot of this but if you give it some time their will be help for the valve covers if you want it. I have two GT's coming up in the near future for valve cover gaskets as well. I am posting a page on the dry sump motors, and will try and adapt it with pics when it varies for the wet sump, or the GT motor.
 
Discussion starter · #19 ·
Thanks for all your help. It would be great to post "how to replace the valve cover gasket" tutorial as I have seen several members have leaking valve cover gasket. Again, thanks for all the straight forward advice.
 
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