Oil Leaks in Cars

Engine oil one of the most important constituent in a vehicle. It is mainly responsible for the internal combustion of fuel in the car, lubrication and maintaining the temperature of all the moving parts of the car. Now, an oil leak might apparently seem to be a common and a casual issue. However, continuous leaking of oil from the vehicle might damage your vehicle, as there would be no lubrication. Also, the highly flammable nature of the oil, might result into a huge explosion, if it comes into contact with some igniting source. By now you must have understood that a simple looking problem can turn damageable and hazardous! So what to do with this problem? Is there any procedure of fixing oil leaks in cars? Yes, certainly there is! The discussion below will acquaint you with the technique of repairing oil leaks from engine.

How to Find and Fix Oil Leaks

Knowing the exact cause of the oil leak is important before going on to fix it. If you know the root of the problem, you would be able to fix the problem within a very short period of time! The most common causes or areas are problems in the oil filter, broken oil cap seal, loosened valve cover or sealing washer or the drain plug, damaged 'O' ring seal and failure of the head gasket. These are some of the areas, wherein you could search for the oil leak and then accordingly fix it.

Finding the Oil Leak
Obviously, if you do not know, where does the leak lie, then it is quite difficult to repair it! So to repair the leak, find out from where is the oil leaking? Follow the procedure given below to do it. If the internal parts of your vehicle have caught up dust, clean the entire area. You can do this with the help of a degreaser. This would ease the process of finding out leaks. Once you have found out the leak, you need to remove the oil completely, in order to seal or repair the leaking area.

• Park your car on an even surface and turn off the engine and let it cool completely.
• Lift the car on a jack.
• Open the bonnet and first of all look for leaks in oil pipelines and the engine block.
• If no leaks are found over there, then you can move on to search for leaks, in the oil pan gasket or oil pan beneath the vehicle.
• Leak in the oil pipelines can be fixed with the help of heat resistant silicone material. But, remember this is just a temporary solution and the problem might pop up again in the future.
• If you find a leak in the engine block, then you are left with no option, other than replacing the engine block.
• Sometimes, oil filter attachment might become loose. So in such cases, tighten the bolts and see whether the leaking stops.
• In a few cases, oil pressure sending unit might be at a fault. If the problems lies over there, then you can either fasten the attachments or straight away get it replaced.

Fixing the Oil Leak
So now you have found out the area of leakage. You can now go on to repair it. Oil leakage due to loosening of bolts and nuts can be fixed by tightening the bolts. Leakage due to loosening of the oil pan gasket is one of an example in this context. The most common area where oil leaks are found is the valve cover gasket. The below given steps would tell you how to repair oil leaks in car, when the valve cover gasket is damaged.

• The first and the most important step is to detach all the breather hoses and spark plugs off the valve cover.
• Now, just tease the bolts of the valve cover and then remove out the valve cover.
• Now place on the new gasket. But do not forget to clean the valve cover rim and prime it with a level of silicone sealant before doing it.
• Fix the valve cover once again. Start the vehicle's engine and then look for leakages. This would ensure that there are no oil leaks while driving.

What to do when your car leaks? With the above said discussion, you know it better. The bottom line is to find the leak area first and then accordingly repair it! You have seen that the procedure of fixing oil leaks in cars at home is easy! By taking it up as a DIY task, you are saving on the oil leaks cost that is incurred in getting the task done from a professional mechanic! So be careful and if you are confident enough, go ahead and do it yourself. However, if you are in doubt, see that you take your car to a mechanic, as at the end of the day, repairing it is more necessary!!!