Quick question on a possible oil leak location on my 84 GSLSE. It's been dropping a bit of oil lately, and yesterday I decided to find the cause.

I started the car (checking level and monitoring pressure), and placed cardboard under where the leak has been. Let the car warm up, and shut it off. The leak seems to have come from about 1 inch rearward of the oil cooler drain plug, leading me to believe it is the lines or the bung cracked again. Is this a correct diagnosis or should I look elsewhere and inspect more?

 

On my 1985 GSL-SE it leaked oil from the oil cooler, around the drain plug on the oil cooler So I replaced the aluminum washer with a copper washer and It did not leak for a while Now it just seeps oil. But I would get the car in the air and get under it and take down that metal pan that's under the engine. So you can see the oil cooler and wipe any oil off the cooler. And see if there is any cracks in the oil cooler were the oil cooler hoses go. Because my first oil cooler had a crack were the top oil cooler hose went were somebody over tightened it. If not oil cooler check were the oil cooler lines go on the rotary engine and make sure no leaks. But I would start with the oil cooler first.

 

From my experience, if it's cracked, its going to be where you can't see it. I remember I spent hours trying to find the leak on my oil cooler and only figured it out after some creative maneuvering of the mirror while the engine was running.

Best way I would say, is to clean the area very good, apply a leak detector (Dye or just footpowder/chalk dust, ect) and see if you can find it that way.

 

could be anything from a crack to the washer not sealing properly, the two fittings not quite tight enough, or maybe the oil line itself has a hole in it. i had a line start leaking once and the only way to actually see it was to hold the rpms up around 3k cause the pressure at idle just wasn't enough to show it.

 

I pulled the pan before I started it, that's how I determined the area of the leak. I had a massive leak when I first bought the car (approx 3yrs ago) and the cooler was cracked, had it welded, lines replaced. I'll have to try the talc trick soon.