Having Car Issues. Help?

tryrrthg

Quick update...

I have put 250 miles on the truck and from what I can tell I haven't lost a bit of oil. Oil seems to be at the same level it was when the dealer changed it on 3/8.

I also finally filled up the tank for the first time since my trip to Chicago so I will be monitoring gas mileage too.

Ricardo

Good to hear that. Sometime the gremlins find other stuff to do and just leave.

tryrrthg

I’ve been too busy to find the time to post a follow up on this. I finished my 1000 mile oil consumption test last week. When I started the test the oil was just slightly above the “full” mark on the oil dipstick. When I finished the test my oil level was right at the “full” mark on the dipstick – I hardly lost any oil in the 1000 miles.

I took it in to the dealer and this time they managed to find a leak around my oil pan gasket. They said it was a small leak and I could get away with not doing it if I didn't want to. I told them to replace it because I need answers to this problem. I’m hoping that is/was the issue, but I’m going to keep an eye on the oil.

So is it plausible that the oil leak in the gasket caused the problem? The first time I started seeing my oil light on the dashboard flash I had driven over 3000 miles between oil changes. That was pretty much 3000 miles of daily driving, or 10-20 minutes at a time. The second time the light started flashing on is when I drove less than 1000 miles but most of the mileage was from driving to Chicago from Columbus. So could the demanding long highway trip to Chicago increase the amount of oil leaking out of the oil pan gasket?

and is it plausible that since the leak is on the gasket (top) of the oil pan that I would only leak oil when I am driving? I've never seen any oil spots under the car after it's been parked.

concealer404

Yeah, that's plausible. Oil is thinner when hot than when cold. Pressure in the system, etc etc etc.