Leaky cars are OK cars?

My car likes to leak oil and transmission fluid. It's got 300,000 miles on it so I can probably assume every seal is done with and leaking. This is sort of new to me as I've only owned newer cars and I have the typical american bad habit of OH NO IT LEAKS I NEED TO GET RID OF THIS CAR. The best thing I can do is change a small part of the PCV system on this oil change to slow oil leak a bit. Leaky cars are fine right? I don't need an extremely reliable car, if it throws a rod while driving it I have AAA and can go without a car for weeks until I find another. Who knows, I could get another 120,000 miles if I keep the fluid topped off, right? No need to panic. I have to put about a 1/4 of a oil in it every month to keep it at the half mark on the oil dipstick. Transmission I just top it off every once in awhile.

Until the leak becomes too much to keep up with reasonably or it becomes an issue for how much it leaves in a parking space I don't worry about it. It does make working on one horrible when it's covered in old oil and accumulated dirt though. I prefer they don't leak, but especially for a high mile vehicle I've got a high tolerance for it.

i had a car that needed a quart of oil a week, and it was my DD for about a year. As long as you're willing to deal with it i say keep fighting the good fight

fyi: by adding a quart of oil a week you basically do an oil change over the course of a month, so there was an upside to it

Americans get rid of cars when they leak oil?

The grease stains down the center of the highway and massive puddles in the middle of parking spots says otherwise.

Leaking a fluid isn't a big deal, running out of that fluid is. Keep it topped off. Unless you are leaking all over an exhaust manifold, that can cause issues. I had an old beater truck that leaked out of the valve covers. One day I stopped at a friends house, one of the guys outside says "hey Mike your truck's on fire." I say "It's not on fire, the leak just makes it smoke." Then I looked at the amount of smoke coming from under the hood and replied "well E36 M3 it might be on fire". It wasn't. But at that point I needed to fix it.

NEALSMO wrote: Americans get rid of cars when they leak oil? The grease stains down the center of the highway and massive puddles in the middle of parking spots says otherwise.

They "get rid" of it to other americans who keep on rollin'.

In reply to NEALSMO:

I guess they put them on Craigslist and we buy them?

There's a different between a 'leaker' and a 'seeper.' Seeping is fine. If it's crusty, nasty, and a legit fire/environmental hazard, fix it.

I did an engine-out complete re-seal due to leakage on a VW 1500. It leaked the same or worse when I was done.

I wouldn't track or autocross it, but should be OK for the street. Of course, being the owner of 4 British vehicles, I'm a bit biased.

NEALSMO wrote: Americans get rid of cars when they leak oil? The grease stains down the center of the highway and massive puddles in the middle of parking spots says otherwise.

Some do.

Some people live with enclosed/underground parking with a stipulation that vehicles may not leak fluids on the ground as part of the lease.

Ah, I think mins considered a seeper. It neatly seeps oil down the drain pan then drips from the drain bolt to ground. Transmission just likes to keep itself lubricated a tad.

A quart of oil a month? Unless it's pouring oil on the exhaust, has a leaky cooler line that could blow, or something to that effect I wouldn't worry about a leak like that on a beater, just dump cheap 15w40 in it and spin on a filter a couple times a year, continuous oil change! Any faster of a leak and it starts getting economical to consider at least throwing a gasket at the worst offender.

Just remember to add as necessary. Sometimes I've gotten forgetful until strange noises started, that's not a good plan.

I currently only lose brake fluid on one of my vehicles(sucked in through the intake at cold start) so calling it a leak win.

And they don't "leak" they Mark their territory.

I don't mind leaky cars that I know where they are leaking. Mystery leaks worry me even when minor because I wonder about the minor leak becoming catastrophically less minor. A bit escaping from a gasket/seal/etc is one thing, something coming out of a damaged line is another even if both leak at about the same rate for now.

As such I'm pretty anal about IDing leaks, but less so about fixing them. The tricky part is that when I choose not to fix a leak, I always wonder if that will mask a newer scarier leak in the future because I think the fluid is coming from the known leak.

The exceptions to this is brake fluid. If I know I'm leaking brake fluid, I fix it/pay someone to fix it/get rid of the car depending on the financial math involved. Not only do I not want to run out of brake fluid, if it's leaking anywhere other than straight onto the ground, it's bad news on many things it ends up touching. Gas leaks rate pretty high too.

I once had a '69 Ford 302 that leaked oil so badly that I would do "free labor" oil changes for my friends, just so I could have their waste oil to pour in my Ford. It was going through a quart or two per week.

But hey, I paid $175 for that car, drove it for 4 months, and sold it for $150, to a guy that wanted a rebuildable 302 core and a good C4.

Oil and coolant spills on roads kill motorcyclists - fix your leaks.

chaparral wrote: Oil and coolant spills on roads kill motorcyclists - fix your leaks.

But what if your motorcycle leaks?

stuart in mn wrote:

chaparral wrote: Oil and coolant spills on roads kill motorcyclists - fix your leaks.

But what if your motorcycle leaks?

sounds like a self-solving problem

stuart in mn wrote:

chaparral wrote: Oil and coolant spills on roads kill motorcyclists - fix your leaks.

But what if your motorcycle leaks?

Sell the Triumph and the Harley for a Honda.

I wouldn't know what to do if I owned a car that didn't leak

Knurled wrote:

NEALSMO wrote: Americans get rid of cars when they leak oil? The grease stains down the center of the highway and massive puddles in the middle of parking spots says otherwise.

Some do. Some people live with enclosed/underground parking with a stipulation that vehicles may not leak fluids on the ground as part of the lease.

Or don't want it all over the driveway of a house they own.

For me it depends on the car. My wagon doesnt leak because i hate grime. My truck has a rear main leak like every 5.3 ive seen.i dont care about said truck so i just drive it and top it off.

I just spent $1400 on a transmission rebuild because of a front seal leak. Many years ago I didn't care about leaks. Now, if it's leaking much, I fix it or dump it.

And here I thought this was gonna be a thread about cars which allowed water intrusion during rain events. My Miata leaks, cabin and trunk.

Currently the Passat doesn't leak, the rest all have some fluid or another coming out of them (mostly pretty slowly). I'd fix any brake fluid leak immediately. Suburban has a drippy gas tank when over 3/4 full so I'll need to do something about that in the spring.

KyAllroad wrote: And here I thought this was gonna be a thread about cars which allowed water intrusion during rain events. My Miata leaks, cabin and trunk.

I think water leaks is part of Miata ownership. Mine pisses water in between the weatherstrip and the very top of the window on the passenger's side. I put new weatherstripping in and adjusted the channel all the way out and the weatherstrip still misses the window by 1/4" in spots.