Oil Leak

[AZ3.8Camaro]

I'm new to the board so bear with me. I have a 1997 3.8 and oil is leaking. It's really slow, coming out the bottom. The only reason I noticed is because its dripping on the exhaust. It seems to be coming from the oil pan bolts. Is this a normal problem? Do I need to do the gasket? What should I check first? I cleaned off the oil pan and bolts then started the car, and i can see small pools of oil star to form around ALL of the bolts on the rear half of the oil pan. Also, what is a Whisper Lid? Where do I Get one? Is it better than she SLP CAI? If you guys have any tire or wheel questions, thats what I can help with. Thanks!

[Bird_Of_Prey]

Ok, what your seeing is a "Rear Main Seal" leak, and the series 2 3800 is notorious for that. A shop will undoubtedly rape you, so if your proficient enough to know lefty loosie, righty tightie, you can probably fix it yourself. Second question, a whisper lid will not fit on your car, it's only for 98-02 cars. Best results I have seen is with the SLP CAI.

Good Luck
Tom

[Jason]

I dunno, if hes gettin oil from the BOLTS in the pan he could try tightening them up a TAD and see if that stops it. A main seal isnt gonna make the bolts leak oil, it would make the oil drip from higher up wouldnt it? Maybe i misunderstand the question.

[PiLOTLiTE]

I have the same problem. The oil drips on the y-pipe and smells bad. Also it drips down the oil pan and makes it look like the oil pan gasket is leaking. It is the rear man seal however. The dealer wanted 600 to fix it. I would imagine a shop would do it for 300-400.

[Damien214]

Did you switch the car over to sinthetics? If so switch back and see if it goes away. Otherwise it's your seal, my dad's 97 camaro does it too

[AZ3.8Camaro]

No, I always use regular pennzoil. Anyways, it is coming from the bolts. I have cleaned them off and turned the car on, and watched it slowly form a drip. I tightened all the bolts, and even went so far as to put some sealant on the worst two. They still leak. I am trying some gasket renewer to see if that helps, if not I am going to replace the pan seal and probably the rear main. If Im already going to all the trouble, I might pull the engine all the way out. My dad knows a guy that owns a machine/engine shop. I might bring it to him, and see what he can do for me. (Boring etc.) Has anyone else done this? Thanks for the tips. At least I know its not a serious problem. It never leaks enough in 3,000 miles to even affect the dipstick, so Im open to any alternatives instead of pulling the engine.

[zlightning]

Um 10 sec once you switch to syn's you should never go back. Plus there is now differnece in regular 5w-30 and syn 5w-30 when it comes to leaking. If syn leaks so will regular.

[98V6REDCAMARO]

I would be wearey about using gasket renewer. additives are bad about slowly gunk up engines and passages in the heads. i do believe you either need to raise the engine up or take the lower crossmember out to get the oil pan off and that can be a pain, but i would just keep adding oil if it needed it until i had enough money to fix it instead of using additives.