# A bit of oil seepage underneath (159K miles)



## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

Any comments on this? I don't plan to do anything other than continue driving, but noted this when I changed my oil this morning:


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## pandrad61 (Jul 8, 2015)

clean the area off and see where the oil is coming from? im shocked that such a new car is already leaking oil. i know high miles but dang.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Great picture! What did you shoot it with and what are we looking at?

As well, have you changed oil formulations recently?


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## IndyDiesel (May 24, 2015)

diesel said:


> Any comments on this? I don't plan to do anything other than continue driving, but noted this when I changed my oil this morning:
> 
> View attachment 183769


Did you happen to check the oil prior to drain? Just curious if it was near normal levels?


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Have you lifted the engine from underneath putting pressure on the oil pan? I had an oil pan gasket seep and it was having my engine held for just a couple of minutes from underneath.


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## mrbrefast (Aug 9, 2015)

diesel said:


> Any comments on this? I don't plan to do anything other than continue driving, but noted this when I changed my oil this morning:
> 
> View attachment 183769


This looks distressingly like the bottom of my VW as I was nearing the end of chasing down oil leaks - in my case it was near the radiator and got everywhere. In this case, being near the bottom it is possible that air pressure while driving has coated the components shown here. I haven't spent any time under my CTD yet so I can't really speak to likely leak points.

Definitely no bueno for a car to leak like that when so new, even with your crazy number of miles


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## CruzeDan (May 17, 2015)

That is a leak. Not seepage. As mentioned it's probably the air while driving causing the mess. Definitely needs attention.


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## operator (Jan 2, 2015)

Looks like a corrosion prevention encapsulant.


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## Chris Tobin (Feb 23, 2016)

diesel said:


> Any comments on this? I don't plan to do anything other than continue driving, but noted this when I changed my oil this morning:
> 
> View attachment 183769


Honestly judging by the picture only I would suspect a leaking drain plug. It is right in that location and at 150k miles you have probably done a lot of oil changes already!!! Have you ever replaced the drain plug or the o-ring or copper washer (I am not sure what is used as a seal for the GM drain plug in the Cruze Diesel)? Drain plugs are a wear item as the seal/gasket/o-ring does experience wear over many cycles. Also I do not see physical drips, I just see a big accumulation telling me it is a lot of small drips or seepage combining in a low pressure point under the car, I'm a little surprised it is not smoking on the exhaust. You might need to "put a little heat into your ride" every now and then to give the turbo and the vanes a workout...

Also, where is the oil filter located? Is it possible that this is residual spillage from oil filter changes over the many miles and many filter changes. It seems as though engineers no longer care about filter placement as many vehicles make a total mess spilling oil all over the place no matter how careful you are with a filter change. The filter on my Duramax truck sits almost horizontal so a lot of oil spills each time you spin the sucker off.



obermd said:


> Have you lifted the engine from underneath putting pressure on the oil pan? I had an oil pan gasket seep and it was having my engine held for just a couple of minutes from underneath.


That's highly doubtful with a cast aluminum pan and solid mounting surfaces between the two. I could see it with a stamped steel pan but aluminum will typically crack or break before it bends. At any rate it is NEVER a good idea to lift the car or engine by the engine or transmission pan.



mrbrefast said:


> This looks distressingly like the bottom of my VW as I was nearing the end of chasing down oil leaks - in my case it was near the radiator and got everywhere. In this case, being near the bottom it is possible that air pressure while driving has coated the components shown here. I haven't spent any time under my CTD yet so I can't really speak to likely leak points.
> 
> Definitely no bueno for a car to leak like that when so new, even with your crazy number of miles


In a case like this miles is much more relevant than time. The only time that time will cause gaskets to leak is when the vehicle sits a lot and the seals/gaskets dry out and that is definitely not the case with diesel's car!!! If it were to be a seal it would likely be from wear, think about how many revolutions the crank has made in those 150,000 miles. You would be hard pressed to find any vehicle that is bone dry on the outside after 150,000 miles of service no matter who the manufacturer is. Whenever two things run against each other they wear out, some at a faster rate than others but all wear out eventually seals included. If the car had 15,000 miles on it I'd be highly concerned, at 150,000 miles, clean it up and observe over the next few months...



CruzeDan said:


> That is a leak. Not seepage. As mentioned it's probably the air while driving causing the mess. Definitely needs attention.


It really depends on how long this has gone on, if that is cumulative over the entire 150,000 miles it is not bad at all, diesel just needs to spend a little more time under the car than in the driver seat every now and then. But if it happened in the last week, then there is an issue. I would say that amount of oil is less than a tablespoon of oil over a long period of time mixed with a lot of dirt and road grime, and loosing a table spoon of oil over several oil changes or even over the course of just one oil change could be annoying to your driveway but inconsequential to your engine.

Get a couple cans of brake cleaner and put on some goggles and clean that mess up, then check back on it in a week, then a month, then 3 months and so on. Once it is clean it should be pretty easy to see where it is leaking.

Also, put a new drain plug in the pan (or at least replace the gasket/seal/o-ring if you haven't in the last 150,000 miles.

Report back next week...


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

Wow, lots of interesting responses! I have a theory about what caused it... and one of my commenters has the same theory. More on that below...



Tomko said:


> Great picture! What did you shoot it with and what are we looking at?
> 
> As well, have you changed oil formulations recently?


Thanks! Nokia Lumia 640. I am not quite sure what it is, but I suspect EGR valve.  Oh, and yes, switched back to Amsoil last change. 



IndyDiesel said:


> Did you happen to check the oil prior to drain? Just curious if it was near normal levels?


That was on my mind all morning, but I never got around to doing it. last I checked was a few thousand miles ago and it hadn't budged on the dipstick from when I changed. 



obermd said:


> Have you lifted the engine from underneath putting pressure on the oil pan? I had an oil pan gasket seep and it was having my engine held for just a couple of minutes from underneath.


Never done anything like that. 



Chris Tobin said:


> Honestly judging by the picture only I would suspect a leaking drain plug. It is right in that location and at 150k miles you have probably done a lot of oil changes already!!! Have you ever replaced the drain plug or the o-ring or copper washer (I am not sure what is used as a seal for the GM drain plug in the Cruze Diesel)? Drain plugs are a wear item as the seal/gasket/o-ring does experience wear over many cycles. Also I do not see physical drips, I just see a big accumulation telling me it is a lot of small drips or seepage combining in a low pressure point under the car, I'm a little surprised it is not smoking on the exhaust. You might need to "put a little heat into your ride" every now and then to give the turbo and the vanes a workout...
> 
> Also, where is the oil filter located? Is it possible that this is residual spillage from oil filter changes over the many miles and many filter changes. It seems as though engineers no longer care about filter placement as many vehicles make a total mess spilling oil all over the place no matter how careful you are with a filter change. The filter on my Duramax truck sits almost horizontal so a lot of oil spills each time you spin the sucker off.
> 
> ...


Although I wiped the drain plug area before shooting the picture (you can see a new drain plug there). I had never changed the drain plug or gasket before today. There was a bit of oil accumulation around the drain plug area, so I am pretty sure that's my culprit. The oil filter is high up on the opposite side of the engine, and when I took a peek at the back of the engine, I did not see an oil trail from above. 

Now onto another 15K miles or so before the next change!


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## IndyDiesel (May 24, 2015)

What oil filter do you use for a 15k interval?


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## Chris Tobin (Feb 23, 2016)

diesel said:


> Wow, lots of interesting responses! I have a theory about what caused it... and one of my commenters has the same theory. More on that below...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I thought it looked new in the pic...

I know that some manufacturers recommend changing the copper washer/gasket/seal after every oil change and some are pains in the but and make the drain plug not serviceable and want you to replace the drain plug each time. I think VW is one of those ones... big surprise huh?!?!!?

I think you'll be good to go with a clean up and the new drain plug. Grab a bunch of newspaper, a couple cans of brake cleaner and a pair of goggles (if you've ever had brake cleaner splash back and get in your eyes you'll understand why) then lay out the paper several layers thick under the area and spray then scrape or brush off until it is clean... lather, rinse, repeat as necessary.

Then check back on it after a week or so and it will probably still be clean thanks to the new drain plug.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

IndyDiesel said:


> What oil filter do you use for a 15k interval?


This one. I bought a bunch of them on Ebay when I first bought my car.


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## IndyDiesel (May 24, 2015)

diesel said:


> This one. I bought a bunch of them on Ebay when I first bought my car.
> 
> View attachment 183841


 That's cool, do you use that filter for 15k oil change interval?


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## PanJet (Jun 18, 2013)

diesel said:


> I am not quite sure what it is, but I suspect EGR valve.


That is the DEF injector. The feed lines are insulated.

EGR is on back side of engine.


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## pacolino (Aug 1, 2015)

diesel said:


> This one. I bought a bunch of them on Ebay when I first bought my car.
> 
> View attachment 183841


How much are these?

Sent from my LGMS631 using Tapatalk


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## oilburner (Jun 13, 2013)

diesel said:


> Any comments on this? I don't plan to do anything other than continue driving, but noted this when I changed my oil this morning:
> 
> View attachment 183769


if you don`t see it on your driveway an the level stays the same ,don`t worry about it .minor compared to some of the leaks I see every day.


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## KpaxFAQ (Sep 1, 2013)

IndyDiesel said:


> That's cool, do you use that filter for 15k oil change interval?


Yes a stock filter for his type of driving is perfectly fine for the interval. He's verified it via UOA.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

IndyDiesel said:


> That's cool, do you use that filter for 15k oil change interval?


Yep.



pacolino said:


> How much are these?
> 
> Sent from my LGMS631 using Tapatalk


I think I got them for like $4 or $5 a piece but I bought like 27 of them in a lot. They came from somewhere in Europe. 



KpaxFAQ said:


> Yes a stock filter for his type of driving is perfectly fine for the interval. He's verified it via UOA.


^^^ What he said.


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