Oil drip
 

Tonight I noticed a small puddle of oil on the garage floor right under the engine. Only about a teaspoon at most, the car hasn't been using a lot of oil. It's an '07, bought BN in March, just under 3800 miles now, last oil change at 2500 miles. Car spends a lot of time parked in the garage, it's not a daily driver and I usually only take it out on weekends. I've only had to add 2 quarts to date.

Too dark to poke around under there tonight, hoping someone can give me some likely places to start looking when it gets light in the morning...gaskets, filter, maybe? It looks like engine oil, not hydralic fluid.

Search turned up nothing useful. Hoping its minor, like the oil filter not tightened properly...

Would the dealer laugh at me if I took it in and demanded that they find and fix the drip? It's most definitely under warranty, but is a drip a warranty issue?

Any insight or suggestions are most welcome.

If it seems to be coming from the bottom of the rad, check your airbox, could be full of oil....

S

stealth could be on to it - we know what to do if that is the problem ;)

Also check the dealer didn't spill it when topping up the oil .

Just looking underneath with the flashlight, it's at the rear of the engine. Looks like it might be migrating back along the tranny, there is about an 8-inch long section that looks juicy.

I'm wondering now if I overfilled it last time I added oil. That dipstick is damn hard to read, even after 6 wipes.

Edit: It's been several weeks since my last oil top-off and the drip can only be a few days old- it wasn't there last weekend, so I doubt it has to do with overfilling. Didn't add much anyway, only half a qt.

you need to get under there with a torch - if it is not immeadiately obvoius you should clean it all up as much as possible then go for a drive and recheck it when you get back . Do you have some ramps or axle stands ?

it could also the stuff that came out of the filter at the change.. it takes a while to dribble down..


beers :beer:

Check around the engine pan drain plug. Could be that the drain plug gasket was not replaced, or worse yet was left off, when the oil was last changed.

It's very easy to overfill the oil on these cars! Just spin the motor up to 9K's as often as possible the next few times you drive it. The OMP will take care of the rest!

I wiped it clean today and will keep an eye on it in coming days to see if I can find the source. Nothing obvious, but then I had trouble seeing it all because I haven't bought a pair of ramps yet. Plan on picking them up tomorrow. I'll post if I find a source.

The good news is that the tiny puddle on the garage floor has a good patina of dust on it- it's not fresh and the drip may have been temporary. It very well could be an overfilling incident, stay tuned.

It's not coming from the engine, it's the transmission. 6-speed manual.

I've done some searching and found a couple of instances posted about the tranny leaking. Looks like a several day fix, so I'll be taking it to the dealer next week. Of course, with the holiday, I may not get it back for over a week, we'll see.

One of the posts I found mentioned motor mounts being replaced. Wondering how a faulty motor mount would relate to a fluid leak in the transmission?

Also, my dealer is 38 miles away, but there is a closer one at only about 6 miles. I'd much rather drive to the closer one (they've also been in business longer). I'd sure like to not have to drive as far with a leaky transmission.

Argh!

The only bright side is that it's under warranty.

Latest installment:

The 8 is at the dealership. Not the same one I bought it from as they had 2 mechanics quit and couldn't get to the job until after Thanksgiving! So I took it to the dealership by my office, much closer anyway. The one I bought it from is 38 miles away, the one I took it to is only 5 miles from work. The service manager told me that any dealership could do warranty work, no restrictions.

I've got a Saturn Ion loaner, a rental from Hertz but I only have to pay for gas, Mazda picks up everything else.

I can't stand the excitement of driving this pod car....

Waiting for the diagnosis now. Hoping I can get it back by the weekend, or at least before Thanksgiving.

Update:

The dealer told me that the leak is from a switch on the transmission, so it is gear oil and not engine oil. They said that it's very minor and I can drive the car until the part comes in Monday. I didn't want to leave my 8 in the "waiting for parts" lot at the dealership over the weekend, so I have it at home and will take it back Monday morning. Should be all fixed after lunch on Monday.

I returned the Saturn with only 10 miles racked-up. What a let-down after driving an RX-8.

hah - I had exactly the same problem - Swoope had the switch lying around so it was a cheap fix :)

cheap for you, dad..

i am moving in 2008.. :)

beers :beer:

long way to come . I'll keep a few beers cool for you .

This begs the question, what is the switch for?

It is the neutral switch that leaked on mine .

I don't think I've ever heard of a neutral switch on a MT. What's it's purpose?

Actually I got that wrong - it was the reverse switch .

safety link i believe.. but it does talk to the ecu. and when it fails, the fun begins..

beers :beer:

That makes sense. Turns on the back-up lights?

Just got the car back and it was indeed the back-up switch. They also topped-off the gear oil even though it didn't lose much. They also did a full inspection.

I'm keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't drip anymore. I have a large sheet-metal drip pan that I'll keep under there for a while.

I have to say that my local Mazda dealerships bend over backwards for me. Much more so than the Ford and Subaru dealerships where we take our other cars.

4 days later and not a trace of gear oil anywhere. Case closed.