Oil leak repair - $4500 + quote.........

[InfernoMan2011]

I recently purchased a new GMC Canyon to replace my 2011 IOM Camaro LLT with as a daily driver. The Camaro has just hit 70,000 miles on the odometer and for a little while now I have noticed a small amount of oil dripped onto my garage floor. Not enough that I'm having to add oil to the engine or anything, just an annoyance. The strange thing is that it only happens when the car is garaged. If I park outdoors anywhere, regardless of level/incline/decline no oil drips onto the ground.

I took the car into an automotive service center today (non-dealer) to get it checked out and have the tires rotated. They are reporting the following:

Oil leaking from Timing Cover & front crank seal.
Rear main seal and cover leaking.

They quoted me $4,590 to replace all of the seals, including the valve cover seals.

I wanted to get opinions from others here on this.....does this quote sound reasonable for replacing the seals?

The car only has 70,000 miles on it but it's a 2011. This definitely puts a big dent into some upgrades I was hoping to start on the car soon.

Any suggestions or advice? It's not my daily driver at this point. Thanks for any feedback.

[InfernoMan2011]

I have told them to hold off for now and I'm definitely going to get additional opinions.

1.) I don't see how oil could be leaking from all 3 of those locations based on the amount oil that drips.

2.) At that cost, which probably about 1/3rd of the cars value at this point, I wonder how much more it would cost to have a full rebuild of the engine done.

[SSkat]

Im no expert on the matter but I would definitely say thats overpriced. I would just take that money and get new car if it does really cost that much.

[G8One2]

Shops over price if they don't want the job. Take it somewhere else.

[StreetRage320]

what oil do you run and have you had any temperature issues, ran out of coolant, etc? strange that a 70k engine is leaking from every spot possible.

to answer your question 4500 is crazy..I would ask them for an itemized quote, parts and labor. curious how many hours they think this is going to take

[G8One2]

If your vehicle truly is leaking from all those areas, the PCV system may be plugged in which it causes excess crankcase pressure. This pressure has to go somewhere, some of which gets blown past the Piston rings. The rest blows by gaskets and seals which may or may not be repairable without replacing gaskets or seals. Probably not your issue, but something to inspect if you truly are leaking oil in all those places. Food for thought.

[lemontwist]

back in the day we would say it's a chevy if it's not leaking oil then it don't have any in it lol. but they do pretty good now.
if you don't need to add oil between oil changes then i would put a pan to catch the oil drops and leave it alone.

[fhrex]

timing cover leak is not that uncommon on the LLT. For that price, sounds like they're resealing the entire engine.

[InfernoMan2011]

Thanks for all of the feedback. After looking over the receipt where I declined the service, it looks like they probably just did a visual inspection, and since they saw some oil in these areas, instead of actually TESTING to determine where the leak is, they just decided to say, well lets replace ALL of the possible engine gaskets so we know it's fixed and quote that.....

So it does sound to me like they didn't feel like making the effort/wanted the business.

Yesterday I got my favorite degreasers out, Simple Green and Blue Dawn dish soap and did a thorough cleanup of the undercarriage to remove any oil that has accumulated. After covering my oil breather cap and Vararam CAI, I gave the engine bay a good wash with low-pressure water. Then I pulled the car up on Rhino ramps and and did the same to the frame rails and oil pan area with Simple Green and then Dawn. I have suspected for a while that the small oil leak is coming from the front left lower side of the engine (facing the engine from the front of the car).

After cleaning everything up and letting the engine bay dry for a while, I took the car down off the ramps and let it idle for about 5 mins in my driveway.

Looking under the car, I don't see any oil accumulating. However, looking at the engine from the front it does look like there is a small amount of oil accumulating around the two lines that run underneath the alternator.

So now I think I just need to determine what seal this leak would be coming from by looking at a engine diagram of the LLT most likely.

My theory, oil leaking from the front of the engine was slowly dripping and accumulating on the front frame rail and basically blowing back onto the oil pan and other areas. With such a small amount oil, I don't believe that there is any leak from the main rear seal or any of the other areas.

To answer the questions above, I do have a modified PCV system (RX Catch Can). I've always done my own oil changes and run Mobil 1 w/ Wix filters.

About 2 years ago I had a coolant system leak that I had repaired. That was the only time I had any temp issues and those were immediate and due to the coolant leak issue. No issues with temps before or after that repair.

[G8One2]

Put some dye in the oil and get a black light. Run it and look for yellow oil. You should very easily be able to see where it's coming from.

[InfernoMan2011]

Here's a picture as well.

It's the front left side of the engine, just below the alternator. That wheel is blocking the view in the shot due to the angle, but oil appears to be accumulating right where those two highlighted lines go.

[cdb95z28]

Run away from that shop.

[KenKat]

Ask friends and neighbors for recommendations for a good local independent shop that is trustworthy. That, combined with the good diagnostics you are doing - even if you don’t want to do the actual work - can really help get it repaired at a reasonable cost.

[Jeepplr]

From my experience with Chevy stuff, you have a cooler line leaking. I have been known to leak oil, power steering, and ATF at times and once all 3. When mixed with road dirt it all looks the same on a clean garage floor.
I watch it leak for a few years then fix it when I can replace something that necessitated removing those lines anyways. (If I replaced the line the component under the line will fail and I will have to get another set of new lines.) As of right now my Camaro is leak free, my truck was resentful fixed and my 76 Jeep CJ-5 only leaks if it has oil in it.