13 Jul My Car Leaks Oil When It’s Parked: What Do I Do? What Causes the Leak?
Oil leaks are common, especially with older vehicles that haven’t been serviced regularly. One reason for an oil leak is that it’s been far too long since the last oil change. It could also be a sign that an engine gasket or an oil seal is degraded.
A damaged gasket or oil pan could be a sign of damage incurred beneath the vehicle: road debris can cause a hole or crack. It could also be a cause of a bad ring or valve seal. It could also be an incorrect installation of one of the gaskets.
The best way to avoid an oil leak is to keep your engine’s oil changed regularly. The method of checking the oil’s color isn’t reliable, because oftentimes as soon as the engine oil is changed, the fresh, new black oil will take on the brown color associated with old, dirty oil.
The best way to maintain a healthy engine, and to keep the vehicle from leaking oil, is to keep the engine’s oil changed at the intervals recommended by the vehicle’s manufacturer.
But that doesn’t mean that a simple oil change will fix an oil leak: an oil leak is a sign of damage, and the one way to prevent the leak further is to have the damage fixed.
The severity of an oil leak will vary, but more serious leaks such as ones that sprout unexpectedly, a large puddle in a short time frame, mean severe damage, and should not be ignored.
If you do have a serious oil leak, then it’s best to get the vehicle to your mechanic as soon as you can, although driving the vehicle in the event of a serious oil leak is chancy, to put it mildly. You could end up stranded, or you could end up doing serious damage to your vehicle’s engine.
If you need assistance getting your vehicle safely from one place to another, then remember the experts at City Towing, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, servicing the Billings area and beyond.
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