finally decided to figure out my oil leak. Bought an oil pan gasket, oil filter adapter gasket. The front plastic splash gaurd is always wet and dripping on the passenger side and the oil pan bolt heads are always filled with oil. There was always an oil drip on the oil filter. Dropped oil, removed front plastic splash gaurd, and couldn't see the ground wire/oil dipstick area and the ground wire loom was wet. Started thinking maybe the dipstick tube into the block was the problem. Sprayed carb cleaner liberaly to the area, massaged with my hand in a latex glove, sprayed some more. FInally got the whole area clean. Then I wiped down the whole oil pan and bolt heads. Put on filter and filled with oil, took for drive around the block.

Back in the garage, put a piece of cardboard under motor and went in the house. Came back out 10 min later and was a drip on the drivers side oil pan area. Dipstick tube area is dry. Going to put it up on ramps again to take a closer look.

I don't know where a rear main seal leak is supposed to show up, don't want to put an oil pan gasket on if it won't make a difference.



notice the ground wire area, that was one glob of gunk before. Couldn't even see the sensor

A bad crankshaft rear seal (rear main seal) will release oil on the engine block side of the flex plate. The area between the engine and the transaxle will be wet with oil. If it is a bad rear main seal, the oil leakage will be much worse with the car running. They can get bad enough to put out a half-pint in a minute. Part of any good test drive should be to pull up after the drive onto a clean area and allow the engine to idle for a few minutes while you look at other things on the car. Then check under the engine for any little puddles.


Another source of leaks in that area is where the rear seal carrier joins the block to form the sealing surface for the rear of the oil pan. The carrier needs to be flush with the block, and the ends need to be sealed with rtv silicone.

the flex plate is completely clean. should I go for the pan gasket and rtv it on the flex plate end? I go through a quart every 3k miles. whe I'm down a quart I change oil.

It could be that the oil is coming out of the crankshaft rear seal and down the face of the carrier on the back of the block without hitting the flex plate. Pull the plastic flywheel cover(*) and shine a bright light up on the back side of the block. The aluminum piece bolted to the back of the block is the rear seal carrier. See if there is any oil on the carrier before you drop and re-seal the carrier/pan joint and pan. If the carrier is dry, breathe a sigh of relief and go after the pan.