Over the past year, my 07 Base has been leaking oil. It's been at a trusted mechanic prob 5 times. I've had seals replaced, oil pan, timing belt, water pump and oil pump replaced. I just had it in again because it was still leaking and leaking more and it only leaked a bit at the shop. So, he re did the oil pan and it is leaking again. What the hell is it? I love my TL and I know even at 118k a good sized oil leak is not right especially with all the work that's been done.

 

rear main seal??

 

That was not done in the recent bout of repairs, but I am certain a seal or two was replaced at some point. Which one(s) I'm not sure of, but I'll make a note of it to him. Thank you.

 

You might have a defective motor where the oil is seeping through the pores due to a defective casting.

 

If you are referring to a motor mount, I just had the front one replaced. I apologize for leaving that out. The last hour of repairs was also not just for the oil leak. Coolant was leaking into the oil, but that has been fixed.

 

no I think he means the casting of your motor could be fractured causing it to leak badly even after replacing all of those parts.

 

This is what I mean, I understand that this TSB is not your car but since you've ruled out all other possibilities then the impossible is probable. At least try and confirm that this is not the cause of your oil leak and move on to the next suggestion.

LOL, JBW FTW!

 

I'm thinking now it's probably that rear main seal or a gasket. I also forgot to add that he did check the engine well to look for leaks. It also seems to really only leak parked in my driveway (a slight incline). It was getting a bunch of stereo work done all day yesterday and it did not leak in that shop. Does it leaking on a slight incline hint to anything else?

 

before you replace anything, did you or your shop figure out what oil were leaking? engine oil, ATF, PSF? You just wasted tons of money replacing all those things for nothing. tell your shop if their diagnoses does not fix problem, then they have to pay for that job. if they refuse, then find a more experienced shop.

 

Well the other work was more for the coolant leaking into the oil. He thought the cracked oil pump would be the culprit. And he checked and said it was not engine oil leaking. I'm dropping my car off tomorrow for him to check. And he is agreeing to fix it for free and continue to check until it is all fixed after the $ was spent on those costly repairs. Still, much less costly than thru Acura lol

 

If it is the rear main seal, try replacing the PCV valve.

 

why doesn't he clean it up and wait to see where it leaks from? I would think thats the first step before changing everything else.
My mechs usually use a spray can with some alcohol to dry out the area and inspect it the day after to see where the oil is coming from.

 

My apologies for not reporting back but yes he has tried cleaning and seeing where it is leaking from. Looks like it was in fact another seal that was causing it! All good for now

 

Which seal????

Don't come in and report it was fixed without what fixed it.
- Doing that is almost as bad as not reporting back. Some may say worse!

 

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​​​​​​I apologize and I'm honestly not the best when it comes to all the mechanical jargon so forgive me lol... I don't have the write up sheet on hand, so i can't say. It was a simple fix, though. If I'm not mistaken, it was one of those small seals that should be changed after a number of oil changes if not each. Being such a simple fix, the mechanics were checking everything but that! Also, it was more or less crushed/crimped, so it would not leak when parked flat, only on an incline like a driveway.

 

I'm gonna take a guess here and guess maybe it was the crush washer?

 

So the Drain plug washer...

 

Yes... I'm telling you, I don't know much about cars compared to the majority here. Like cars, just have never had the time or space to work on them lol

 

So, to understand your problem and solution better. What happened is you had coolant leaking into the oil, and you brought it to the mechanic. The mechanic thinks it's the seals from oil pan, etc, which leaked oil and coolant, thus you ended up replacing all those items mentioned above, but the oil leak continue and it turned out to be the crush washer from the oil drain plug?

 

All those problems above were occuring. I had more than one leak and it was larger. After the fix, we detected a different leak that ended up being the drain plug. Separate leaks. Trust me, right before all that work was done, the oil leaking was kind of milky due to the coolant in there...

 

Thanks for getting back and updating, greatly appreciated.

Regarding the Crush Washer on the Oil Pan Drain Plug/Bolt:
- I buy them by the box and have them on the bench. Change them about every third oil change. Nice thing is that the one box fits our two TL's and RL. I think it may have been the same as our previous Honda Accord.