[Peter_Reinhard]

Hello
My 97 ETC the other day had a burning smell. Today the low oil warning came on. I put 2 qts in and still no indication on the dip stick. I put the car in the garage and took my truck to work. Oil has been leaking everywhere. When it was running, it looks to be dripping out pretty quickly in the middle, about 2 feet back from the front bumper.

What do you think this is? (I'll get under it this weekend)

Can a rear main oil seal suddenly go bad?

What else would you suggest?

The car is old (in years), and 140K miles and I'm at the point of wondering if I should keep it. I love the way it drives, and transmission shifts perfectly.

A little engine skip at high speeds when WOT. Something is wrong but overall it drives great.

Also the air conditioning gave me a low coolant message a month ago and has shut off. Being in the north east it has been too cold for AC so no big deal.

And I may need tires soon. So, AC parts, tires, rear main oil seal?

Anyway, any advice is always appreciated.

 

[Submariner409]

Either the oil filter is loose, the oil pressure sending unit has blown the O-ring seal or the oil filter adapter itself is loose - 2 O-rings seal it to the block. All are simple, inexpensive fixes.

See the oil consumption/smell thread near this one for a diagram of the adapter and sending unit.

 

[Peter_Reinhard]

Thanks for the reply. I hope it is this simple and will let you know.

 

[Ranger]

I can't think of anything else that would leave such a large puddle.

 

[Peter_Reinhard]

The major leak came from the area you guys mentioned. The 7/8 inch bolt that locks the oil cooler tube into the oil filter housing was loose. I just tightened it and the leak is gone. I'm very happy it was not a serious problem, but I wonder how it just happened to become loose. Is this something that happens frequently?
Anyway, thanks again for the replies.

 

[Submariner409]

PeterR, The attached diagram - "oil cooler line fittings, if installed" - is/are this the "bolt" that the oil cooler tube is attached to ? If so, that's the quick connect fitting and should never have come loose.

You might want to get the car up on a lift with the lower plastic air dam removed and insure that both of those quick connect fittings are secure in the filter adapter and that the two bolts which secure the adapter itself to the engine block are tight - 12 ft/lb.

The quick connects have an internal O-ring and the service manual states that the fitting itself should be replaced when any oil cooler line work is performed. Any NAPA store - about $5.50 each.

 

[Peter_Reinhard]

Hello
I'm driving the car again so I hope thinks are ok.

To answer your question, the oil cooler lines on my car do not look like the enclosures. There is no retainer clip, and the "bolt" is a smooth tube, about 2 inches long. It is hollow and must be some kind of compression fitting into which the metal oil tube enters. It was loose and oil was clearly leaking out of it. I turned it maybe 1/3 of a turn with an 7/8 open end to make it tight. I had to remove the plastic air dam, and there is no real room to get the wrench in there. (It was one of those deals where you turn it a tweak, then flip the wrench, and get a tweak more, etc. Not much room.)

I'll have to keep a close eye on this. Thanks for the detailed the reply and enclosures. Also on my "to do" list is the front motor mount. A mechanic said it was bad a few years ago, and when I had that air dam off you could see it was deteriorated. I've read elsewhere on this form how to replace but it sounds like it may be more than I want to do at my house. (I used to turn a pretty good wrench too)