2003 Chevy Blazer with oil leaking out at about 1 quart every 500 miles. The leak seems to be in the front of the engine but there is oil all over the bottom of the damn thing. The pictures are here- Chevy Blazer Oil Leak - Album on Imgur. Any help is appreciated.

 

Couldn't see pictures, I would guess remote oil lines...

 

Actually look pretty minor for a blazer. LOL

 

It could be the timing chain cover too. I also have a 2003 Chevy blazer with 121000 miles on it that I know is leaking some from the remote oil filter lines and also I believe some from the timing chain cover. Neither are easy or cheap fixes. The last I am at is less than a 1/2 quart per 1000 miles. I have been using high mileage oil, but I thought I should try conventional oil to see if it uses more or not.

 

FYI conventional, high mileage,etc are all the same. marketing gimmick. If you change your remote lines modify them before you install the new ones. Somewhere on this forum are direction to do just that.

 

Looks like cooler lines. I replaced mine a couple of years ago with Dorman ones and they leak worse now than my factory ones did. I was thinking of trying this

Repair your leaking oil cooler lines! (Pics fixed) - S-10 Forum

 

If you don't want to guess, it should be easy to find with UV oil dye and a black light - as long as you watch things in the dark right after putting in the dye. Drive the vehicle and blow oil all over the place before looking, and it won't work. Only helps if you are there when the newly dyed oil first starts to come out. High intensity black lights are much better, but you can do it with a bulb if you get close enough. Might want to check how the dyed oil looks under your particular black light before starting the procedure (should show up bright yellow). Probably you can get a loaner high intensity black light from a local parts store (with deposit). Good luck.

 

I disagree. High Mileage oils usaully have more anti-wear additives, seal conditioner additives, and more cleaning additives in them than conventional oils. They are also usually a semi-synthetic. Case in point, Valvoline Maxlife has Dexos1 license where there conventional does not. However, that 75000 mile is more or less marketing. You can decide when you want to use and even if you want to or not. They do not aways stop leaks, so high mileage oil may not be your solution to a leaking engine.

 

thats what it says on the label anyway

 

The best diagnostic for engine oil leaks is to thoroughly clean everything under there with "engine cleaner."

You can take some ramps with you to the local self-serve car wash, drive the front up the ramps, put $5 or so in quarters in the machine and set it to "engine cleaner" and wash everything at the bottom and front of the engine, up to at least the heads. Avoid the distributor area and the intake manifold itself, but do get the outer sides of the heads and valve covers from the top. I usually keep the engine idling as I clean it, and if it starts coughing, avoid those spots.

You can also use several cans of Gunk brand engine cleaner and a few rolls of paper towels, but that's more like work. I do use the Gunk Engine cleaner on the intake side of the valve covers and other sensitive areas.

Now, drive it home, and slide a broken down (flattened) cardboard box under it when you park for the night. In the morning, look for spots on the box, and look for the drips from above those spots.

The most likely leaks on this engine are from the remote oil filter lines, and from the front cover.

If it's the lines, taking the leaky lines to a shop that does hydraulic hoses and having them repair the original lines, replacing the rubber hoses and recrimping the connections is usually a better repair than cheap "aftermarket" lines, and more cost effective than brand new original equipment lines.
I agree.

The first thing I thought when i saw the pictures was, "The only thing wrong with this picture is that his seems to lack normal oil leakage."


Ditto that. Although I generally recommend switching over to "high mileage" oil between 60,000 and 90,000 miles.

If you wait too long, "High mileage" oils or switching to synthetic oil can expose cracks and issues with seals and gaskets that weren't leaking because they were "gunked up" with convention oil deposits. High Mileage and synthetics tend to clean out the deposits and expose the cracks/failures, causing new leakage. They don't cause the damage, they just unmask damage that had already occurred, but wasn't leaking due to deposits.