Oil leek!! And I am an IDIOT!!! Please help!!

[Graham]

Ok I bought the car in June this year, had 73895 miles V6 3.4 One owner. It was In Top shape inside and out garage kept.
But I know nothing about mechanics.
So I took it to several shops and was given a small list of repairs.
One month later I see a small drop of oil on the driveway, I take it in and am told $ 250. To fix a leaky oil pan gasket.
Good or bad I bite (it was a dealer Gm center.if that means any thing.)
Now in December it has 74253 miles, and I only drive it to and from work about 50miles a week. I start to smell oil coming from the engine at idol and now have small drops of oil once or twice a week.
I go to a mechanic (Gm dealer) and am told …
I need new Rear main seal, head gasket and a lower intake manifold gasket!!!!!!!
All together $1200.00
Also they hand me some printed sheets off a GM site that talks about leaky 96-97 Gm cars and the Pontiac Firebird is listed!!
So I am an idiot …what do I do?????????
A. I don’t have $1200 and B is this NORMAL for a 1996 that looks and drives like new …
I need advice BAD!!

[Knight5]

well if your car is leaking oil like mine is,then probably you just need to replace the Rear main seal.I don't think that you need to replace the head gasket unless you know its blown.maybe gm is just trying to rip you off

[Th3 RiCk]

I bought my car in March of 03. Looked great, drove great, and sounded great. In October I learned that the head gaskets were blown. Good thing I talked the dealer into knocking 900 off the price and adding a warranty. I think the total price with labor was 1600? I forget. They went on ahead and added a new rear main seal since they had it all opened up. So looks can be decieving. Oh, BTW a the same Ford dealership I bought the car from did the work. I don't know if this is really relavent to your questions, but I did have the same problems.

[MississippiMaro]

Do yourself a favor buy a pair of ramps, get under the car and trace the oil leak. It make take several attempts of cleaning the underside of the car and tracing the oil leak. If you can smell oil burning when you're driving, then it's most likely an upper engine oil leak and not the real main seal. Likely candidates include: Oil gear drive (not sure if you 3.8 guys have one) valve cover and lower intake manifold gasket.

[Wicked 3800 V6]

I'd say it's a rear main seal leaking onto your y-pipe -- so the oil burns / smokes / heats and you can smell it. Horrible when sitting in traffic, but f*ck it, every single camaro (v6) leaks oil ... or did, or will.
-Rob

[Big Tymer]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Wicked 3800 V6:
I'd say it's a rear main seal leaking onto your y-pipe -- so the oil burns / smokes / heats and you can smell it. Horrible when sitting in traffic, but f*ck it, every single camaro (v6) leaks oil ... or did, or will.
-Rob<hr></blockquote>


how much to fix this? this is whats happening to mine?

[badandy247]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Wicked 3800 V6:
I'd say it's a rear main seal leaking onto your y-pipe -- so the oil burns / smokes / heats and you can smell it. Horrible when sitting in traffic, but f*ck it, every single camaro (v6) leaks oil ... or did, or will.
-Rob<hr></blockquote>


not yet and the camaro has it's 13th b-day in mid january but i'm a mechanic by trade and keep my car cleaner underneath than inside i just find i enjoy working on a clean chassis so much mine is cleaner than most that roll off a dealer lot I should really take pics it's amazing i put it on the lift and clean the hell out of it at least once a month

[cb1101]

Is it a 3.4 or a 3.8? if it was 96 then it is a 3.8...anyway, 2 drops of oil is nothing man. Besides i think GM is yankin your crank just a bit. You would be having serious issues with heating. Go to a normal mechanic, or maybe a friend that knows about cars and ask them what they think. Cant be any worse than what GM is trying to pull!

[tommycat]

I feel your pain. Just got back from a trip from Detroit and the next day I find a large oil stain under the car. Looked at it on the lift at the local shop and there was oil blown all the way back to the muffler. The mechanic figured it was either the oil pan or rear main seal, but he said he's never known of a rear main failing on a 3800. Guess he's never worked on them before. Anyways, their estimating $500 to replace it. Now I'm thinking of replacing the automatic trannny with a manual when they do the fix since they are going to pull it to check the seals. Also, there was no oil on the top or sides of the engine, but I can smell it burning every once in a while...must be it on the exhaust