My daughter has a Saturn Vue w/3.0L, she drove it to work Tuesday and noticed what she called a hot tire smell and thought she saw smoke coming from the front tire. She did not check it out but instead drove it home after work. I went to look at it after I got home and found under the passenger side COVERED form front to back with oil. I then checked under the hood and found the engine covered llike someone had poured a quart of oil on it. It was everywhere, even the radiator shroud was dripping oil out of it. Well short story long I looked it over top to bottom and could not find a leak any place, even with the engine running. Had her take into the local mechanic shop we use and they could not find any leak any where even after cleaning the thing up for over an hour. Funny part was for even covered with oil like it was it was only about a 1/2 quart low on oil. This engine has never shown the first sign of any leak since she has had it and I understand these engines are know for leaking, but nothing shows up in the usual suspected areas. Everyone I have spoken to about this is at a loss as to what happened.
Oil leak
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when was the oil last changed?
by whom?
was it overfilled?
by whom?
was it overfilled?
My first guess would be a problem with blow-by. Maybe the oil shot out through the dipstick tube or another "path of least resistance." Have you checked the dipstick seal and PCV valve and hose? Done a compression check? Is there any "blue" smoke at startup?
I think we agree that the leaking fluid is indeed motor oil, as it's now 1/2 Qt down, right? How much time has gone by since the OC? Could it be a double OF gasket?
I doubt it's the same 3.0 in the Vue as in my wife's L300, but this is what happened to us. One day I come home and notice my wife's driver side tire covered in oil. I open the hood and the coolant reservoir is filled with lube oil and has blown out the cooling system pressure cap. At first I'm thinking head gasket since there's no way this thing has an oil cooler on it, but low and behold, there's a liquid to liquid oil cooler under the intake manifold. I removed the intake, pulled out the cooler, tested it, it leaked. Saturn wanted 600 bucks for another one. I plugged it up, installed an external oil cooler on the car and that was that. If this is that stupid european overhead cam V6, you may possibly have the same deal. I don't know if they used that particular engine in the Vue.
So far it has not leaked another drop of oil. Engine has never smoked at startup and is just as smooth running as it has always been. My thinking is that SOMEHOW it the oil was blown out of the oil filler cap. It seems to be near the at the point of origin as best as one could tell with all the oil every where. When I checked the oil filler cap it was very difficult to remove like it might have been on slightly cross threaded. My problem with this thinking is it went for so many miles without any leak. One thing I forgot to mention is it was the coldest morning we have had so far this winter, about 8 degrees but I fail to see how that could be a factor.
I checked the filter first, it uses the cartridge style filter instead of a spin on. (Real bright idea there GM) All the filter housing had on it was what was dripping down from other parts of the engine.
Not sure if it is but I do not think it is the Opel 3.0 that was used in the L300.
Still stumped, still looking.
I checked the filter first, it uses the cartridge style filter instead of a spin on. (Real bright idea there GM) All the filter housing had on it was what was dripping down from other parts of the engine.
Not sure if it is but I do not think it is the Opel 3.0 that was used in the L300.
Still stumped, still looking.
Probably an oddball frozen line for the PCV system. Condensation froze, and blocked flow, and there was excessive crankcase pressure blowing oil past seals and gaskets. Also, a collapsed hose will do this.
Just got back from the repair shop, they had put dye in the oil and everyone there took a turn looking for the leak. Nothing, nada. I have decided I am going to replace the oil fill cap just for giggles since it still appears to me to be central to the origin of the mess. Now the sad part is no parts store has in stock a replacement, gotta order it.
It was THE factor in bringing down the first space shuttle.
Welcome to Saturn. I can't get a Chilton's manual, spark plugs or too much else for this thing from the parts store. Only oil filter, belt and air filter. All else is from the dealer.
Welcome to Saturn. I can't get a Chilton's manual, spark plugs or too much else for this thing from the parts store. Only oil filter, belt and air filter. All else is from the dealer.
Yeah know what you mean. For an American made vehicle part sure are hard to find unless you order on line and even then it can be interesting locating what you want. I just refuse to pay the dealer twice what a part is worth and can usually find it else where given enough time.
Agree with Mechtech2. Allways remember, oil won't run uphill. If not already, clean, clean, clean, till additional leakage will be easily spotted, then look regularly for several days.
Bob
Bob
I had the exact same situation about a year ago. Mind you it was a totally different engine (Ford 2.3L) but my scenario was almost identical to yours. It was a cold morning (-20C or so). Car ran fine, drove it for about 20 mins on the highway. Got into town and was stopped at a light. I noticed smoke coming from under the hood. Pulled into a parking lot. Oil was dripping on the ground. Popped the hood to find oil splattered everywhere against the firewall and on the exhaust manifold. Like you said, it was like someone opened a container of oil and just poured it out. Took it to the shop. They put dye in the oil to find a leak. They couldn't find any leaks whatsoever. Car continues to run fine to this day. The only thing I could come up with was that the PCV breather line got plugged with ice. This engine's got a bit of blow by and on cold days the PCV breather line gets a bit of white goop. I noticed a short while ago that some of it had actually frozen into a chunk of slush/ice on a really cold day.
same thing happened to me yesterday! car started smoking and stunk like burning oil...popped the hood and i discovered that *some* idiot left the oil cap off when he added another 8 oz of MMO.
Well a week has gone by since the GREAT OILING took place and so far not a sign of a leak any where. Glad it isn't doing it anymore but I would sure like to know just what exactly did happen. I don't mind it so much IF I know what happened but I sure as heck hate NOT knowing why.
Agree. Plus those seals and gaskets were also brittle and shrunken from the COLD (hence the space shuttle reference).
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