losing oil...help

[slver 3800]

yesterday while driving back from work my low oil light turned on. i pulled over and checked my oil and somehow had almost no oil in my engine. i called my father and he came over with a quart and a half of oil and that topped me off to get home and today i added a pint jut to fill the car completely. Now yesterday as a first reaction i check under the car at my oil pan to see if maybe i had scraped it or the bolt came loose because i am frequently going over speed bumps were i work. nothing was wrong their. however when i popped the hood to check the oil i noticed that my valve cover had dry oil all over it and it looks like the oil is seeping out where u put oil in. my father said it must be a slow leak because the oil that was on the valve cover was dry when we noticed it and there was no smoke. he said something about a pvc or pcv tube that can get clogged and if it does the engine forces the oil out by the valve cover. does anyone know if this can be the problem or of any other things that could be wrong, and where i can find this tube....the car is a 2000 camaro v6 3.8l. thanks

[Rob Bell]

Re: losing oil...help

Yes, a plugged PCV valve can cause excess pressure in the crankcase which could force oil past the gaskets. I'd check that first. Also check to make sure the valve cover bolts are tight, they can sometimes work loose. You can pressure wash the engine (have it running while doing this, and stay away from the alternator) to clean it up, then you can watch for where the leak really is. Then go from there. You may want to wash it off anyway if it had that much oil leaking all over it.

[slver 3800]

Re: losing oil...help

ok. now i nee dto locate the pvc valve. any ideas were that is?

thanks again

[robert]

Re: losing oil...help

ok. now i nee dto locate the pvc valve. any ideas were that is?

thanks again

its right on top of the intake mainfold its the diamond shape metal piece bieng held in by two bolts and make sure tht when you take it off that u have a gasket for the pvc valve and a new pcv which is only like 5 bucks plus the gasket.

also the gasket doesnt come with it cause ppl at autozone or nappa will tell u it does but thts the wrong gasket mine was 3.95 at the pontiac dealership or a dealership, but autozone and those places do not have them!

[Chris2088]

Re: losing oil...help

its right on top of the intake mainfold its the diamond shape metal piece bieng held in by two bolts and make sure tht when you take it off that u have a gasket for the pvc valve and a new pcv which is only like 5 bucks plus the gasket.

also the gasket doesnt come with it cause ppl at autozone or nappa will tell u it does but thts the wrong gasket mine was 3.95 at the pontiac dealership or a dealership, but autozone and those places do not have them!

The PCV valve on the 3800 has a gasket? When I replaced mine there wasnt any gasket, just the cover and bolts. I guess it could have been changed before.

[slver 3800]

Re: losing oil...help

well i checked the valve and found it to be perfectly clean. back to square one with figuring out this missing oil problem

[flamingchicken]

Re: losing oil...help

did it rattle when you pulled it out?

[ssms5411]

Re: losing oil...help

Theres always Trans X.LOL J/K

[z38camaro]

Re: losing oil...help

hahaha. funny one. ssms

i honestly dont have any idea what your problem could be (being that youve checked all the common trouble spots.

[jimmysprinkle]

Re: losing oil...help

Perhaps your valve seals are taking a dump? You could be slowly burning oil through a leaking valve seal.

[Opontee]

Re: losing oil...help

I had the intake leak on my 3.4 around the rear of it.

[StrtRacer98]

Re: losing oil...help

Perhaps your valve seals are taking a dump? You could be slowly burning oil through a leaking valve seal.

If his valve seals were leaking oil into the cylinder the car would smoke ridiculously bad

[Mogobs30th]

Re: losing oil...help

Could be either a front or rear cover issue. If it is the rear cover, its possible you won't see any leakage until the car is actually on and rolling, due to the fact that half of that cover is covered by the bell housing of the tranny. I would check the gaskets around both of those.

[slver 3800]

Re: losing oil...help

i have pretty much check all of the front of the engine and other than were the valve covers are i haven't seen any signs of oil. im gonna see if their is anything in the back of the engine.