Wife's 2013 2.4 with 76k just developed an oil leak. Small enough to monitor sump level but consistent.I was afraid it was the rear main or front seal but the oil appears to be coming from around the starter. Anyone else ever run into this? All views from the top of the engine are dry so I don't think it's anything seeping down.
Oil leak ID?
- Thread starter PaulD
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Travis Bickle
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I think if you see it around the starter, that pretty much would indicate the reat main seal, wouldn't it?
After not finding the source of the leak myself, I asked my mechanic to take a look. He found it. At first he thought I hadn't tightened the oil filter cap enough as he found seepage from the back side of the cap. On closer examination the cap had cracked at the bottom of the molded hex. Being on the back side of the cap, I never saw it.
Travis Bickle
New member
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Well that's good news as that's an easy fix!
The oil sending unit (what works the oil light on the dash) is in that area it could be leaking and need to be changed.
I definitely did not overtighten it. I had been using a standard 32mm socket for removal/install which never had good top clearance to unscrew the cap and the socket at the same time. My best guess is when I was loosening and unscrewing the cap with the socket in place, that teh socket got cocked at an angle and put some side load on the hex portion of the cap, causing it to crack. I recently bought a cheapy, short 32mm socket on Amazon specifically for this job from now on.
