I need help in understanding. I just took my car to SunDevil Auto for a
oil change and they said I had a lower intake leaking coolant, that my
right wheel cylinder is leaking and my oil pan gasket is leaking, along
with my front crank seal can anyone please explain to me what these are
and their purpose. Im just a girl and just learning but dont want to
get a screw job. Any help is appreciated:uhoh:

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sfetter55
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Noozer - 25 Apr 2007 00:58 GMT
> I need help in understanding. I just took my car to SunDevil Auto for a
> oil change and they said I had a lower intake leaking coolant, that my
> right wheel cylinder is leaking and my oil pan gasket is leaking, along
> with my front crank seal can anyone please explain to me what these are
> and their purpose. Im just a girl and just learning but dont want to
> get a screw job. Any help is appreciated:uhoh:
The intake manifold is how the air and fuel get into the engine. Between it
and then engine block is a gasket the stops coolant from leaking out. If
that gasket wears out you will end up with a coolant leak, either outside
the engine or worse into the oil. If it was leaking inside I would expect
you to see foamy oil under the filler cap.
Wheel cylinder is part of the brakes. They're found in drum brakes, so that
would be the right rear wheel unless your car is 30+ years old. A little
seepage is normal around the rubber seals. If they show you the brakes and
pull the rubber parts back and say "See! A leak!" they ARE trying to rip you
off.
The oil pan gasket it just what keeps the oil from leaking out around your
oil pan. Do you end up with oil spots in your driveway under the engine? If
not I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Front crank seal is what stops the oil from getting out of then engine
around that pulley wheel at the bottom of the engine. Again, do you have
lots of oil leaking onto the ground or spraying the parts under the engine
compartment? If not, I wouldn't worry too much.
You didn't say what year or model car, so no idea how difficult any of these
jobs are. The only serious issue is the manifold leak. The brakes could be
serious too, but if you don't have the brake light coming on and the brakes
feel fine you probably don't need to worry.
...Now, I'll just bite my tongue about the screw job.
: )
HLS@nospam.nix - 25 Apr 2007 13:44 GMT
> I need help in understanding. I just took my car to SunDevil Auto for a
> oil change and they said I had a lower intake leaking coolant, that my
> right wheel cylinder is leaking and my oil pan gasket is leaking, along
> with my front crank seal can anyone please explain to me what these are
> and their purpose. Im just a girl and just learning but dont want to
> get a screw job. Any help is appreciated:uhoh:
Get a second opinion from a different shop. Those items may be bad,
or they may be trying to run up a bill on you.
Some of those items, if really bad, could make the car dangerous and
undependable to drive, so I would have it checked sooner than later.
Steve - 25 Apr 2007 15:17 GMT
> I need help in understanding. I just took my car to SunDevil Auto for a
> oil change and they said I had a lower intake leaking coolant, that my
> right wheel cylinder is leaking and my oil pan gasket is leaking, along
> with my front crank seal can anyone please explain to me what these are
> and their purpose. Im just a girl and just learning but dont want to
> get a screw job. Any help is appreciated:uhoh:
The oil pan gasket is a gasket between the bottom of the engine block
and the "pan" (stamped steel piece, actually) that keeps the oil in the
engine. The gasket is NOT pressurized, so any leak is probably more like
a "seep." Its a fairly major task to repair the gasket, so I'd probably
just ignore this one. Does it leave big oily spots in the driveway? Do
you have to add oil often? If not, don't worry.
The front crank seal keeps oil from leaking out past the crankshaft at
the front of the engine. Again, some "weeping" is normal, and if you're
not leaving big oily spots where you park, don't worry too much or wait
until you can afford it.
The right wheel cylinder is part of the braking system. You don't say if
its front (disk brake) or rear (drum brake?). BTW- it would be helpful
to know what kind of car this is!!!! At any rate, drum brake wheel
cylinders often weep a little fluid and that's normal, but if they drip
enough to show on the back of the wheel or to get the lining wet, then
its very important that this be fixed.
The lower intake gasket leaking coolant is VERY important, because it
can lead to engine failure, oil mixing with water, all sorts of bad
things. Again, it would REALLY help to know what engine this is. Several
manufacturers have had intake leak problems and some of them have
offered extended warranty coverage, so you might not have to pay for all
of this repair if the car is covered.
sfetter55 - 25 Apr 2007 19:24 GMT
'[image: http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_1_67.gif]'
(http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZRxdm069YYUS) '[image:
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15/15_10_6.gif]'
(http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZRxdm069YYUS) '[image:
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/23/23_30_126.gif]'
(http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZRxdm069YYUS) Thank
You EVERYONE for the information! Your the best, and I'm that much more
knowledgeable. My car is a Chevy Malibu 2002 LS. I had NO signs of
leakage from the car, oil or otherwise, so it caused me to think I was
being misinformed. The maintence guy told me it was because I had more
than 60+ miles. I have always prided myself on keeping up with the
maintenence work and with no leakage on the driveway....Well I think
you know where this is going. I will get a second opinion...Thank You
Agan PS Do any of you live around here? (Glendale Az. :)
'[image:
http://www.smileycentral.com/sig.jsp?pc=ZSzeb095&pp=ZRxdm069YYUS]'
(http://tinyurl.com/ywukfa)

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sfetter55
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Scott Dorsey - 25 Apr 2007 20:06 GMT
>You EVERYONE for the information! Your the best, and I'm that much more
>knowledgeable. My car is a Chevy Malibu 2002 LS. I had NO signs of
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>you know where this is going. I will get a second opinion...Thank You
>Agan PS Do any of you live around here? (Glendale Az. :)
Cars leak. That's just life. Occasionally there are problem leaks,
but most leaks are just ordinary everyday leaks.
Get an MG, and then you won't ever have to worry about leaks again, because
it will just be a normal part of life.
--scott

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"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
shiden_kai - 26 Apr 2007 00:28 GMT
> Thank You EVERYONE for the information! Your the best, and I'm that
> much more knowledgeable. My car is a Chevy Malibu 2002 LS.
It's quite possible that you have an intake manifold gasket leak. Very
common on this car. Often, if the intake is leaking oil from the front
or rear silicone gasket....oil will leak down and appear to be coming
from the front cover/seal area and also appear to be leaking from
the oil pan gasket. So if you actually need a new intake gasket, I
would have that done first, have the engine cleaned off and then
rechecked later to see if the leaks were simply coming from the
intake gasket.
You should also check at a dealership. These intake manifold
gaskets are being covered by GM under a goodwill policy. You
may end up getting it fixed for free. If you have dealt with a particular
dealership....I would go back there. It helps if you have some
history with them.
Ian
Ashton Crusher - 26 Apr 2007 07:26 GMT
>'[image: http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_1_67.gif]'
>(http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZRxdm069YYUS) '[image:
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>http://www.smileycentral.com/sig.jsp?pc=ZSzeb095&pp=ZRxdm069YYUS]'
>(http://tinyurl.com/ywukfa)
I hope you saw Shinden Kai's message, it could save you some bucks. As
to Sun Devil, I have been to them in the past and felt they over
charged and found stuff that really wasn't needed. They replaced a
transmission part and charged me almost three times the normal price
for the part and for two hours labor and it was at most a half hours
worth of work. And then they threw away the tranny heat shield
instead of reinstalling it. I won't go to them again. Unfortunately,
it's hard to find an honest shop, the name of the game is UPSELL so
they will look for just about anything and try and convince you the
wheels will fall off if you don't let them work on it.
Steve - 26 Apr 2007 15:10 GMT
> You EVERYONE for the information! Your the best, and I'm that much more
> knowledgeable. My car is a Chevy Malibu 2002 LS.
Ah, then its VERY likely that you do have a problem with the intake
manifold gasket. The Chevy v6 had a lot of trouble with that, and you
really should check to see if GM will repair it at reduced cost or for
free. It IS a very dangerous thing for the engine, because if the leak
gets big enough then coolant gets into the oil and causes the camshaft
bearings to seize, which then breaks the camshaft. That's BAD (tm) in
case you didn't guess!
cuhulin@webtv.net - 26 Apr 2007 18:41 GMT
Like someone said,you can check under the radiator cap for signs of
oil.Don't do that if the engine coolant is still hot,let it cool down
first.And you can check the oil dipstick for signs of water.
Drive Safely.
cuhulin