Slow oil leak, looks like main seal
 

I will get to display my extraordinary self control when I go see that thief of a dealer tomorrow. Went for an oil change, and the guys at the shop showed me that the car is leaking. It hasn't been enough to show on the dipstick, but it does look like it's coming from the main seal. I don't know much about cars, but I'm guessing this would be a nightmare to fix.

Since it's a really slow leak, is one of those 'stopleak' additives advisable (worked for me on another car which I drove for a long time after with no further trouble)?

How long should the job take an indy shop to do? Shops here vary from $60-150 an hr, and I might have an in-law I can use to do the work.

If it's an extremely slow leak, you may be able to get away with a slightly thicker oil to buy you more time. All leaks have to eventually be repaired correctly though. Front main or rear? The fronts aren't too bad, the rears are another story.

Not sure which is which.. it's the seal above the oil pan. I went with 5w40, so hopefully that will help. Here's hoping the cousin-in-law will give me a deal if the stlr is a douche about it.

don't use stop leak. find the leak and fix it. With your 3.0, most popular oil leak locations are the valve cover gasket and the OFHG. You have a ton of miles so i'm assuming that both gaskets haven't been changed ever, or in a long time, which makes them both prime culprits. The dealer couldn't figure out where the leak was from?

FWIW, i've only heard of one main seal leak on our cars, and thats from an X5 that was abandoned for 2 years.

Okay, no stop leak. :)

Supposedly the previous owner had recently done the vcg. Tomorrow I'll be heading to the dealer (had to cancel on him today, was just too tired to drive) to get this checked out, along with that mysterious coolant leak.

Once this is sorted out, it's on to the water pump, belts, pulleys, tensioner etc just for peace of mind. Glad I budgeted for possible repairs. :P

I have $20 that says it's the oil filter housing gasket.

That will be the first thing I have them look at. Thanks!

have him look at this area (from E46fanatics), if that circled area is wet with oil, its your OFHG (you have to take the airbox out to check this). did your mechanic change the 15 grommet seals for the bolts on the valve cover? If he reused them, they could be leaking as well, I'd change them:

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/attachm...1&d=1237474842

I wasn't the one who had the vcg done, supposedy the previous owner did. However, there doesn't seem to be any oil on that side of the block, it's nice and clean.

Pulled the air box, and yep, someone give that man a cigar! It's got oil. Thanks! Now I'm off to try to find that $%@! coolant leak.

On a brighter note, I found a nice barcode on the drive shaft, so it looks like that was done a while back. Hope I get some mileage out of it.

I'll take a Rocky Patel punch torpedo stick, PM me for my address lol!

4 dollar part, couple hours of labor but its not bad! Coolant leak is prob from expansion tank, tstat, or one of the hose ends. GL!