List of causes of car oil leakage
Car oil leaks signal problems such as loose gaskets and engine cracks that you should check before it's too late.
Oil leakage is a sign that your car is having problems. Based on the type of oil that leaks out, whether it is oil or engine oil, you can diagnose the car's problem. Specifically, if the oil that leaks out is light yellow oil, the problem is in the engine box. If the oil is red and feels slippery when you rub it, it is transmission and power steering oil. If you see a drop of water but it doesn't feel slippery when you rub it, it is coolant.
Experts say that if the car is leaking oil from the bottom of the crankcase or shaft seal, you can check under the chassis to see it. If the oil is leaking from the camshaft line seal or above, it is very difficult to find the oil leak point.
Normally, oil leaks often signal hidden vehicle diseases. If not checked and repaired, it can easily lead to phenomena such as:
- Worn rubber tube and oil seal
- Car fire due to long-term oil leak
- Engine failure due to insufficient oil for lubrication and cooling.
One way to check for an oil leak is to look at the engine oil dipstick. In addition, if the car has an oil leak, you will easily smell a strange smell like burning oil, or when observing the exhaust pipe, you will see more black smoke than usual. When in doubt, immediately check under the car to see if there is any strange liquid dripping on the ground.
Causes of car oil leaks
One of the common causes of oil leakage is the cap gasket, also known as the spark plug gasket, rocker arm gasket. Usually, cheap cars that have been used for a long time such as Kia Morning, Cerato or Huyndai Getz, Toyota Vios... often encounter this problem, leading to oil leakage or rocker arm oil leakage.
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| Use the dipstick to see if your car is leaking oil. |
The reason for the gasket cover is that the engine compartment gets hot when using the engine too much. This phenomenon occurs over a long period of time (on average, the car travels over 100,000 km) and will cause the rubber gasket of the car to harden and shrink. The size difference makes the gasket unable to seal the cover, causing the oil inside to leak out.
In the engine, oil is formed by two states, pressurized and unpressurized. In the unpressurized state, oil usually does not leak and oil will start to leak if the engine is running. So to check if the car has an oil leak, you must check before getting in the car. Remember the engine oil level before and after starting. There are also many cases where the oil is drained because the engine is dirty, this requires you to clean the engine again to be able to determine the leak point. Clean the engine with solutions such as 409 and only clean when the engine is cold to avoid evaporation.
Evaporation can cause problems with your electrical equipment after cleaning. When inspecting the engine, look carefully for possible oil leaks, and assess the severity and extent of the leak. Use a flashlight to see where the leak is, then think about how to fix it. When repairing, check from top to bottom.
If this phenomenon is not handled early, it will cause the engine compartment to heat up, lack oil, and cause the engine to have a lot of friction, making it easy to wear out and break.
How to fix car oil leak
1. Replace gasket
Automotive hardware is made up of many parts and shafts. Rubber gaskets are used to connect these parts, preventing engine oil from leaking out. Each shaft usually has an oil seal. When driving for a long time, the rotating shafts and many parts in the car are subjected to constant temperature changes, causing the oil seals and rubber gaskets to gradually deteriorate. Then the oil will slowly leak through these gaps, forming oil pools under the car.
Normally, parts such as oil seals and rubber gaskets are quite cheap but the repair and replacement time is quite long because many parts have to be disassembled. You should not do this at home but take your car to a garage to have it assembled properly.
2. Use oil leak sealant
If you discover an oil leak and don’t want to replace the part, you can use a sealant to plug the leak. This sealant is in liquid form and must be mixed with engine oil to use. It will plug the leak but can also be used as a slow sealant for oil seals and gaskets, allowing the parts to recover to their original condition.
The special thing is that the sealant is very liquid so it does not clog the oil line.
3. Tighten the bolts
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In many cases, loose bolts also cause gaps between parts, causing oil to leak out. This is quite common because cars often loosen their joints after a long period of operation. The solution to this problem is very simple, which is to tighten the bolts again. However, different car models sometimes have different bolt tightening specifications.
Therefore, before tightening the bolts, you need to check the user manual to know about the requirements for bolt tightening as well as some points to pay attention to if you do the repair yourself. In case you do not understand your car well, you should ask a skilled repairman instead of doing it yourself, which can easily turn a "healthy pig into a lame pig".