I'm leaking oil and my car dies at idle when warm....help!

tykempster · Feb 7, 2015

Car was running poorly after I took the EGR out, got chip retuned to turn off EGR function. Replaced chip, car idled perfectly, went for a drive to the tire shop for the some new rubber. On the way the car backfired once very loud and shut off. On the way back it wouldn't want to idle very well. After some digging I found out a spark plug wire was arcing to a header (Damn gt40 placement), but I was also leaking a lot of oil. So now it's running good, but still wants to die sometimes at idle, it revs up to about 1000, then on the way back to 750 just misses it and dies. Same order of events every time. I got under the car and took pictures, I seems like it's from the oil pan area to me, but I've read an oil pan gasket won't leak after the car is parked and turned off because the oil level is below the gasket. Keep in mind I had no leak before this. I added some "rear main seal stop leak" because mine was weeping a bit, but never even left a drop on the ground. If that caused this I will be most upset. Here are some pictures: Under the driver's side. Is that plug by the sensor (what sensor is this?) supposed to have something in it? Almost seems as if it's spraying onto the headers from there:

Oil all over the tranny/engine union:

Another picture whatever is screwed into the block there. Directly across from it is oil on the headers.

Leak after sitting all night:

Leak after sitting 1.5 hours (black because its dripping all over stuff on its way down):

tykempster · Feb 9, 2015

Valve cover bolts came loose!

DeepList · Feb 9, 2015

So you figured out where the oil was coming from?

If that's the case, you may want to consider just replacing the valve cover gaskets and then re-torquing all the bolts to spec.

Michael Plummer · Feb 9, 2015

If you found the culprit awesome job but there's a lot of oil down there that should be cleaned up. Have you made any progress on "still wants to die sometimes at idle, it revs up to about 1000, then on the way back to 750 just misses it and dies."

tykempster · Feb 10, 2015

Yes, the motor is all cleaned off, I degreased everything and wiped it all down to find the leak. As far as the idle, it was greatly improved when the valve covers were bolted down tight again, and further improved when I did a base idle reset. (Had to open the throttle body a hair for whatever reason with this new tune) Still surges a bit on a cold day, and then for the first few stops, but now it's from 700-800 rpm instead of surging so bad it wants to stall. Idle comes right down to 750 after driving for a minute or two, I'm not sure I can get it any better with an aftermarket cam.