So Im already prepared for any **** talking because I'm a girl but whatever and yeah I know I should be able to change my own oil but when you work full time and go to school it's nice to pay someone to do it, well took it in everything was great or i thought. Didnt notice anything strange but an oil smell i was told caused by any that had spilled on my engine, the only really odd thing that concerned me was when the oil scent was stronger when shifting gears and mashing on the gas and when i idled for over 10 minutes. Later I realized my car was leaking oil which obviously isn't good. Took it back they said they fixed it the gasket was cracked and they replaced it. Granted oil changes are easy and should be let old oil out replace filter and go on with your day but it still has continued to leak just smaller amounts. Suggestions on what I should do since pep boys obviously has no idea and just have continued to make a problem that they started. Possible reasons on why this is just still happening. Yes I'm a baby and need assistance. Thanks
ill be honest im NOT engine savvy at all and have always had help with things like looking for leaks hah, im thinking it may be the oil pan and have nothing to do with the gasket at all or however that set up works.
Sounds like they didnt uses any gasket sealer with the new gasket they put in. Do you know what gasket they changed? If they said they changed your oil pan gasket and you are driving a 1990-1997 miata they would have had to take the engine out to replace the oil pan gasket. How long was it in the shop?
do the blue or black light test get some flourecent dye and put it in the oil
then drive it for a while and check with a blacklight where its coming from
it could possibly b comin from the oil filter. just a guess, cause on my 94, the oil filter is a bit of bitch to tighten, with out a strap wrench, cause of a bracket that's in the way. And maybe the pepboy's you went to just sucks n doesn't know what they're doing.
Common oil leaks are the valvecover gasket and the O ring on the CAS on the top rear of the head. With the engine cool, you can feel along the back of the head for oil.
Those shiny valvecover bolts are REALLY soft and break easy, so be gentle.
Sometimes, an oil filter leaves part of its gasket on the block if it dried out out and sat on the car a while. The mating surface would need to be scraped to get the old gasket material off.
see if theres any local enthusiasts that could help you out find the where the leak is coming from. As kung fu said, CAS o-ring is a pretty good culprit.
How come no one asked if she has checked her oil lately . That would show the 1st sign of a leak besides seeing it running down the engine .
When i picked up my 94 w/14?k on the clock the PO said that the VC gasket and the Cas o-ring were all changed . A week later i was replacing both because of a small leak . But i had no oil smell , right now i still have a leak looks like its from the cam area .
Hope your able to find your problem once you get your hands dirty for the 1st time its hard to stop .
As has already been mentioned, the valve cover gasket, CAS o ring and oil filter are the most common causes.
Valve cover leaks should be easy enough to spot by looking at the valve cover.
CAS o-ring is a bit trickier - its on the back of the motor near the firewall on my 91 and will leak down the back of the engine. On 94 and newer cars I believe they moved it - will have to double check the location.
Since it seems to have started smelling since your service I'm leaning towards it being the oil filter (loose) or the oil pan gasket though, since those are the only things those asshats should have touched while doing a simple oil change.
Oil pan and filter are easy enough to check for leaks - just get the car up on a lift and folliw the wet oil trail.
If I were you I'd track down some local Miata victims and see who works on their cars. Best insurance is a mechanic who gives a crap!
hahaha look at this thread, people coming out of the woodwork for the HAY IM A GURL PLZ HALP
no but really they probably just fucked up the oil filter again.
If you actually can smell the oil afterwards though, I'd check and see if oil is leaking onto your header from somewhere. (the exhaust, where it bolts to the engine)
+1, I bought my car and the oil filter was not tight on there. It looked like an oil baby was massacred in my engine, anyways after freaking out for a couple of hours and taking pics of everything, I went to remove the oil filter and got it off with 1 finger. It shouldn't be hard to remove it by hand, but its gotta be tighter than 1 finger.
The most likely cause is a lazy/fat service guy who can't stick his hand down and get at the filter, so he stuck it on there the best he could and didn't actually tighten it down. A few days-weeks later...the vibs loosen it up and you get oil spilling out under higher pressure.
Without knowing how much it's leaking, it could be very possible that the person who changed the oil just let the oil fro mthe filter (when taken off) drip onto the undertray and didn't bother to clean it up.
Also, when you let the car idle, can you open the hood and see any smoke/vapor? Can you smell where the scent is strongest in the engine bay?
Oh and stop taking the car to Pep Boyz and avoid Wal-Mart. Maybe next time take your car to the local Mazda dealership. It may be more expensive, but you'll at least get a oil monkey that has done oil changes on Miatas before.
some of those retards at the lube centers accidentally double gasket the oil filters when they dont take the half a second to make sure the old ring gasket is off but sometimes that can cause more than just a little leak
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