Why am I leaking oil ??

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nismopath
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Why am I leaking oil ??

Postby nismopath » Sat Jan 06, 2018 5:55 pm

Today I went out to start my 2006 pathfinder and warm it up before going to run some errands. It's been cold with the east coast winter storms coming through. I started it up, left it for 5-10min and when I walked back put I noticed a small puddle of oil ! It wasn't huge but probably a couple ounces. I changed the oil maybe 4k ago,always synthetic mobile 1 5w30 with liger lasting wix filter. I haven't checked the oil yet but the Guage said it was fine, and probably so because it was only a small amount. I'll check tomorrow when it's above freezing. The puddle had seemed to be from just under the oil filter..
I am always upside down when i do changes but i think the filter faces up so i sont know how oil would leak out. I'm just thinking alao if it has been 4k miles how do you spring a leak now?

I will.obviously check the dip stick tomorrw, but if it looks normal.. what so I do next ? I'm puzzled.


nismopath
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Postby nismopath » Sun Jan 07, 2018 7:15 am

If a moderator can put this post in the r51 general forum I would appreciate it. I tried to post there before posting here and it said only moderators can post? I've posted there many times so not sure why but any help would be great.

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smj999smj
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Postby smj999smj » Sun Jan 07, 2018 1:10 pm

It's probably the oil cooler adapter seal, Nissan P/N 21304-JK20A. It's a pretty common failure on a number of Nissan models. Your local auto parts store might even have it in stock and the aftermarket parts seem to be just as good as genuine Nissan. See part code "21304" in the part diagram linked below:

https://www.nissanpartsdeal.com/parts-l ... ?PNC=21305

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underworld1001
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Postby underworld1001 » Mon Jan 08, 2018 6:05 am

Here's a video if it is the oil cooler seal -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAmUO8wbFQE

Its not the best, but gives you an idea of what it is and how to replace it.

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Postby nismopath » Mon Jan 08, 2018 6:23 am

Thanks a lot. I just saw the replies but will look it up today at work.

A couple this I noticed yesterday though..
There were three separate small areas of oil laying in the driveway. I would belive that is from different spits I parked the car, not that all three leaked at the same time. Although I could be wrong. I looked uder the car and all around the oil pan, fender and bottom plate were all covered in oil. It almost seemed lIke oil had exploded. I also went to tighten the oil filter and although it looked fine, it still had some hand turn to it. Very strange because I always go back the day after a change and retighten if needed. And worse of all, no oil at all in the engine.

I will still look up what you suggested but do you think it could be based on the oil filter coming loose? If so why! Haha that is just odd. And would you recommend thicker weight oil than 5w30 for this next change being the coldest months for us ?

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smj999smj
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Postby smj999smj » Mon Jan 08, 2018 8:12 am

5W30 is recommended by Nissan for all temperatures, so stick with it.

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Postby nismopath » Tue Jan 09, 2018 2:17 pm

Well I got a new filter and oil and we will see how this goes first. If it keeps leaking then I'll do the ring, I'm just hoping it's not that so I don't have to do to :)

On a side note.. I bought a big jug of high mileage 5w30 mobile 1, I thought I had a quart of the same at home but it's regular 5w30 mobile 1.. can I mix or no ? I just need abut half of it.

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eieio
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Postby eieio » Tue Jan 09, 2018 6:36 pm

nismopath wrote:Thanks a lot. I just saw the replies but will look it up today at work.

A couple this I noticed yesterday though..
There were three separate small areas of oil laying in the driveway. I would belive that is from different spits I parked the car, not that all three leaked at the same time. Although I could be wrong. I looked uder the car and all around the oil pan, fender and bottom plate were all covered in oil. It almost seemed lIke oil had exploded. I also went to tighten the oil filter and although it looked fine, it still had some hand turn to it. Very strange because I always go back the day after a change and retighten if needed. And worse of all, no oil at all in the engine.

I will still look up what you suggested but do you think it could be based on the oil filter coming loose? If so why! Haha that is just odd. And would you recommend thicker weight oil than 5w30 for this next change being the coldest months for us ?
if you lost 5+ quarts of oil, it must have been spraying out under pressure.
I'd suspect that it was lost through the seal on the oil filter.
the oil guage does not indicate oil level, only oil pressure, which can indicate normal even with very little oil in the engine.
as far as the filter coming loose, likely the only reason for that is under-tightening, unless the oil filter seal broke or deformed from over-tightening.
did you install the filter?
if so, how (and how much) did you tighten it?
the oil cooler adapter seal ordinarily will not be a severe leak, though in an extreme case, I suppose it might
were it mine, I'd determine exactly where the leak is before attempting to repair it

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smj999smj
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Postby smj999smj » Tue Jan 09, 2018 9:57 pm

The oil cooler seal really isn't hard to replace. Just drop the skid plate and remove the oil filter. Use a deep socket and a ratchet to remove the threaded stud and pull the cooler forward (you don't have to drain the coolant nor disconnect the coolant hoses from the cooler). Remove the old seal. Lube the new seal with clean motor oil or Vaseline and install onto the cooler. Reverse the procedure to install. IIRC, the torque spec for the stud is around 26 ft/lbs, but double check the FSM to be sure. You'll want to install a new filter, so doing it during an oil change or changing the oil at the time of repair would make sense.

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Postby nismopath » Wed Jan 10, 2018 2:17 pm

ok i know this topic is getting old but i am loosing it with this car.

I checked the oil before i did anything, dip stick was at zero. I think maybe there was a tiny tiny bit at the bottom which i took for some residual from the tube.
Anyway i went to dump whatever small amount of oil that was left.. to my surprise it felt like a whole 6 quarts had come out. There is oil all over the bottom on my skid plate, in both front fender wells and all around the area directly underneath my oil filter.
so.. that would lead me to believe it was the oil filter, but why all the sudden ? After running 5k miles on this oil change now the filter seal goes on me ? I installed my own filter but I have done this for years on all my vehicles, i doubt i under or over tightened it. Just a couple months ago I had the same issue with my other vehicle. Acura SUV. Except this time i turned the car on and every drop of oil came out of the oil filter area on to the ground. Both were Wix XP filters and I had only recently (past year) been using them so this time I got a Mobile 1 filter because it sat next to the mobile 1 oil i got. Can i be a coincidence or has anyone heard of issues with this filter like that before ? When i took off the filter of the Acura you could see the ring deformed. Now that im thinking of it, i didn't check the filter from mine, not smart but I still have it so i will have to check tonight. Either way, this is getting old for a simple oil change.

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eieio
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Postby eieio » Wed Jan 10, 2018 2:45 pm

the filter seal may tell the story, please let us know

Gottcha86
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Postby Gottcha86 » Wed Jan 10, 2018 4:45 pm

double gasket would have or should have shown signs almost right away and that would have emptied your oil in a few minutes unless you got lucky and the gaskets stuck. having lost that much oil means you have a leak that should not be ignored. A trick i learned from an old timer was to wash down the engine where any oil was coming from then coat the motor and possible leak areas with baby powder and run it for a minute and check(repeat as needed but don't let if run long incase it is spraying and will defeat the purpose of using the powder)

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eieio
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Postby eieio » Sun Jan 14, 2018 7:15 am

what turned out to be the problem? :?

nismopath
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Postby nismopath » Sat Jan 27, 2018 8:47 am

sorry i have been out of town.. I did change the oil before i left. Everything looked fine with the filter seal and no visible issues with anything around the assembly either. Obviously i cant tell what the assembly seal looks like without taking the assembly apart, but nothing out of the norm just by looking at it. I had left the car for a week and have been driving ever since. At first i noticed there was some oil leaking, but then i quickly remembered that so much oil had sprayed inside the bay so i took some towels and cleaned up the skid plate area really well and haven't seen any oil leak since.
Its been 2 weeks, give or take, so i assume that maybe the filter had just come loose for some odd reason. I dont know why but like i said earlier, when i did notice this issue the filter was very loose; I could easily hand tighten it again. I did also switch to mobil 1 filter instead of the WixXP. I guess ill just have to wait and see if anything leaks again and if so, i will do the seal and go from there !
thanks for all the help though, i didn't know about the seal so at least i have a next step.

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palmerwmd
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Postby palmerwmd » Sat Jan 27, 2018 6:58 pm

Hope that's it and it worked out for you.

Please keep us posted! :D


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