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Strange Oil Leak: Fast then Slow
6th gen sedan has strange oil leak.
I was sure it was a front seal leak because I saw the oil dripping
from right below the main crank area of the timing cover, but:
* Oil leak only when engine is running or has been run
* Oil leaks rapidly when dipstick is filled to the FULL mark, then much
more slowly after oil reaches about 1/2 mark between FULL and LOW.
This is confusing to me because I would assume that when the engine
is running and the oil pump is running, it doesn't matter how much
above the LOW level the oil is--the pressure should be the same.
So why would the leak rate depend on the level? A Front Seal leak
shouldn't care about the level.
If it were leaking because the pan gasket was below the oil level
at the FULL mark, then it should leak all the time, even with the engine
not running.
Only theory I have right now is of perhaps a temperature dependent
pan gasket leak. As temperature goes up from running the engine,
viscosity of oil drops (it gets thinner) so it can leak through the gasket.
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