Did an oil change today and found out that I was almost completely empty of oil due to a leak, then saw that I have a leaky gasket. The oil is dripping into/onto the exhaust which is causing the burning smell. Any ideas on what to do?

2004 Discovery II SE with 47K

 

fix the leaky gasket? Is this a trick question?

 

Lol thank you for stating the obvious. I'm asking for solutions, such as DIY/Take it to the mechanic/Don't drive/etc......That's why you post questions on the forum: To get answered properly. Sorry if the question was too ambiguous for you.

 

haha, i love it.

First you could try tightening down your valve covers, you'll need a 8mm 12-pt socket, don't over-tighten. Go pressure wash the oil and grime off the engine and check again to see if you can pinpoint your leak.

 

If you do DIY its easy anything you take off just remember or jot it down how it came off and then reverse it making shure not to over tighten the bolts. its all about making room without taking the unessisery off

 

Can you snap a picture of where you think the oil leak / dripping is and post it. I have an 04 SE7 with 55 K Miles on it and had another 04 SE with 23 K Miles on it and neither had an issue with oil leaking at the valve cover gaskets.

Your problem is not the gaskets but a buildup of pressure in the crankcase because the wire mesh inserts on top of the valve covers inside the hose male fittings are corroded and not relieving the pressure in the crankcase.

In addition, your PCV hole in the intake is probably clogged so not much evac is happening.

When positive pressure builds in the crankcase, oil will leak at the gaskets and seals. Let me know if you need more details.

In regards to the "smart" remarks in this thread, I agree with you, they are not necessary.

 

wasn't being smart. If youu are mechanical enough to find the leak, you probably can replace the gasket. If you just post that you have a leak and don't give any specifics, I can't tell you much. We need to know where it is coming from. Pressure wash the engine and try to find it. If you can't I would take it to a mechanic. The PCV system will cause a leak if the separators are clogged. If it is that bad and blows out the gaskets, they more than likely need to be replaced, but replacing them alone will not fix it if this is the case..

 

idea: when you go to do the fix take pictures of the entire episode with your digital camera and post the pics with instructions on the forum for the next guy who has the same issue.

i dont know about you guys but i am far more likely to attempt a fix myself when I have a set of good pictures to guide me.

thx

 

I forgot to add the following: When I encountered this problem, I always took the oil pan off because of the high probability that sludge has accumulated on the oil pickup in the oil pan. A 2004 with very low miles could mean that it was driven very short distances and if oil was not changed at shorter intervals, sludge builds up inside.

This is a pic of a 2002 bottom end with the oil pan removed. It is a very easy job to R&R to clean the pan and the pickup.