hi guys,

i've got a TS 3 litre v6 magna that keeps dripping oil. i've got a fair bit of experience in 4 cyl's but i've got no idea with the v6's so i've taken it to a mechanics. after about 6 trips there they still havent found the oil leak. its very slow (about one drop every night) and drips onto the crossmember first. it looks to me to be coming from the passenger side of the car, out the side of the engine somewhere. sump gasket has been replaced and resealed, also camseals have been replaced several times. i'm really sick of it cause even though its not costing anything (free cause they stuffed up the first time they didnt do it properly) its wasting a heap of time and i'd also like to do up the car and it doesnt look great if theres a pile of oil under it.

any ideas?

thanks,

Melanie

found. rear rocker cover gasket.

I was going to say the rocker cover gasket..but I was too slow!

Oh no! I'm failing!! :cry: :cry:

;) beat ya to it.

It can't be! :lol:

here is where these engines do leak from.
1/ rocker cover gaskets and bolt seals. (do not skimp on bolt seals, are a few cents each from mitsu)
2/ Oil filler cap, gasket about 3 bucks
3/ Cam seals
4/ crank seal front (do when doing cam belt)
5/ Blind end crank seals(oppersite end of cam belt)
6/ Sump, it has no gasket, is a sealent seal, have to ensure proper sealant is used.
7/ Oil pressure switch
8/ Rear main oil seal but this will be more middle leak.

Also check the breather and PCV valve as if blocked this will pressureize the crank case and cause leaks.

All these seals have been replaced in my Verada except the rear main, anyone who has seem my engine bay will vouch that you could do brain surgery in mine lol

the dumb asses at the dealership recon its not that now and its still leaking :roll: (which i think is more likely to mean they didnt do it right like a pile of other stuff)

Yeah my rear rocker cover caused all sorts of dramas. Being in such a pain area to replace, I let it leak for a while. It caused:

Oil all over the lateral crossmembers (no biggy).
Oil over all over the inner control arm bushes which caused the rubber to perish and hence required replacement of said bushes.
Oil into the alternator which caused it to overheat and fail.

I wrestled with the intake manifold and managed to replace the gasket again (last time mechanic replaced it must not have seated properly). And put liberal gasket sealant around the bolt seals, plus removed and cleaned the PCV, replaced hose + breather hose.

No more leaks now!

Sorry tek not meaning to flame you here but why the hell would you put sealent around the bolt seals when a pair of new ones are about 70c?
If you use the old ones the rocker cover can compress when you tighten them as the rummer is designed to compact into the holes and press the cover down.
Some idoit did this to mine before I got it, a Mitsu dealer at that, used old seals and sealant, bent the front cover.
Mitsu did not use sealant so nor do I,
new gasket from Mitsu 7 dollars
new bolt seals from Mitsu 70c
No oil leak...........Priceless

Melanie, we are going to be in Adelaide for a week over Christmas, if you want to hook up I can have a quick look and give you my opinion if you wish, I have worked on more Magna's and Verada's than I have had hot meals :)

Melanie, we are going to be in Adelaide for a week over Christmas, if you want to hook up I can have a quick look and give you my opinion if you wish, I have worked on more Magna's and Verada's than I have had hot meals :)

:shock: :shock: youre a lifesaver :D :D :D that would be fantastic.

the dealership called yesterday and said 'fixed, come and bring her home' so we went to get her and my mum was driving her home and they musta done something wrong and a gasket blew. there was oil EVERYWHERE and mum says the lifters were really noisy, like it wasnt enough getting to the engine while she was driving too... but cause she's not a mechanic she didnt know what was going on and kept driving :roll: after which it blew something.
car's still driveable (but for how long :cry: ) and the dealership took her back to keep trying. :evil: it is so pathetic :evil: :evil: :evil:

Hmmm...
If it makes anyone feel any better, my engine currently suffers from oil problems #2 & #8
Oh, did I mention my car is a smoke machine on start up? :( :roll:
Should start to hire it out...hmmm...

Oh & I'll vouch for Mal's engine bay, my jaw still hasn't recovered after it hit the ground when I first saw how clean & shiney everything in his engine bay was :D

All going well, after this weekend my engine should be as good as new, hopefully with time to spare to make the engine bay clean & shiney (I can hope... ;) )

melanie,
Are you going thru a Mitsu dealer or just some garage. Your problems are definatly not symtomatic of the Magna v6, there are cars likd Killbilly that have done well over the 200,000 mark. I would assume as you are going back again it is under some sort of warranty?

If you want me to have a quick look pm me and we will see if we can make a time. I will be in golden grove, comming over Monday night now so willbe there from the tuesday before christmas to the following sunday.

My car has almost done 300,000kms now..it's sitting on 272,000, no oil problems except for the burning oil on start up.

But it's not worth me fixing it with a new engine sitting in the garage.

Also my engine will be up for sale when it's swapped...

i had a leaky rocker cover gasket, couldnt tell when i bought it cos they recently cleaned the engine. Well now my car leaks no oil, doesnt burn a drop, never seen smoke from the exhaust, its great :D

Also, Killbilly, i dont think many ppl will wanna buy an engine with nearly 300.000 on it unless it was recently reconditioned.

i got my car back again. they didnt put in the crank seal right and it caught and ate itself. it rained here last night so i dont know if the other leak is still there or not yet. wait a few days and we'll see.
yeah its the actual dealership. i take it there cause my dad always did and they were always pretty good, quick and all... well, used to be. if i could get off my fat ass and learn about v6's instead of just 4cyls i'd do it myself but i dont really have time... and im too lazy. it isnt under warranty as such but that they tried to fix it once and i paid for that and they screwed it up, so every time i've gone back since they've done it all for free.

thought i'd let you all know, it hasnt dripped yet so i guess its fixed finally :D

My car has almost done 300,000kms now..it's sitting on 272,000, no oil problems except for the burning oil on start up.

But it's not worth me fixing it with a new engine sitting in the garage.

Also my engine will be up for sale when it's swapped...

The now stored V6 has done 258,000, without leaking oil. (Power steering on the other hand...)

It's only been stored due to head problems.

Is that problems with the head on the engine or the owner lol :D

i had a leaky rocker cover gasket, couldnt tell when i bought it cos they recently cleaned the engine. Well now my car leaks no oil, doesnt burn a drop, never seen smoke from the exhaust, its great :D

Also, Killbilly, i dont think many ppl will wanna buy an engine with nearly 300.000 on it unless it was recently reconditioned.

When it's 400 bucks they might.

If you dont want to buy it fine ;) lol

No need to comment if its not constructive ;)

LOL!!!!!!! :lol: :lol:
paul, i LOVE your sig.