Do I Have a Rear Main Seal Leak?

Have you seen a few spots of oil on the group under your car every time you pull into your parking spot? Are you one of the few car owners that checks there oil regularly and have noticed the level going down? Maybe you are a weekend mechanic or are just trying to do your own maintenance and discovered some oil on the underside of your car and are trying to figure out where it’s coming from and how to fix it.

If you have found oil spots or noticed your engine oil level going down on your dipstick, checking the underside of your vehicle for evidence of the leak is the best place to start. Depending on what kind of car you have, this may be an easy or a difficult task. If you’ve got a newer truck or SUV you may be able to see under it without any difficulty at all. If you have a sports car, or vehicle that rides close to the ground it may require ramps or jack stands to lift the front of the car up to be able to see under it. Also, if you have an older or high mileage vehicle, there may be lots of road grime and gunk, old leaks, spilled oil or other debris caked onto the motor or underside of the vehicle making it difficult to identify the new leak. In this case, consider degreasing your engine or cleaning the undercarriage before starting your leak detection process. Many new car washes offer undercarriage cleaning as part of a premium car wash.

Once you’ve got your vehicle in a place where you can see under it, let’s identify some of the things you may see. For a starting point, let’s find the oil pan drain plug. Since changing in engine oil is one of the most common things you have to do on your vehicle most vehicle manufactures allow the engine oil pan to be one of the lowest points under your car for easy access. On a truck or SUV you may have to remove a skip plate or shield before you can see this. On the bottom of the oil pan will be the drain plug, which will look like a bolt. Finding this point on your vehicle may take a second but it will likely be about even with the front wheels and about in the middle of the vehicle. Starting at the lowest point on your engine and moving upward is the best way to find an oil leak. Just about any oil leak will eventually make its way down to the oil pan since it is the lowest point. So from here, find the fresh oil and try to trace it up on the engine. Look for a leak starting point, meaning there is no fresh oil leak above that. One you’ve found the highest fresh oil, your problem should be just above that. For oil leaks like these, add BlueDevil Oil Stop Leak to your engine oil to permanently seal the leak.

If it seems that your oil leak starts at the bottom of your engine, and you cannot find evidence of leaking oil above the oil pan, you may have a rear main seal leak. The rear main seal is the seal between your crankshaft and the rear of the engine block just outside of the rear main bearing. Since this seal is just above the rear of your oil pan a leak from it will appear to start there and you will not find oil above the oil pan. A rear main seal leak will cause oil to drip down the back of the oil pan and the front of the transmission bell housing so look for fresh oil right where the engine and transmission are bolted together.

If you think you’ve discovered a leaking rear main seal on your vehicle don’t get scared by all the high quotes from mechanics. You can quickly and easily fix your rear main seal leak using BlueDevil Rear Main Sealer. BlueDevil Rear Main Sealer is a specially formulated oil additive that is safe to stay in your engine oil until your next oil change. BlueDevil Rear Main Sealer will recondition your original rear main seal permanently stopping your leak without the high repair bills