Oil Leak - I need the good, bad, and ugly on it

[muddpuppy]

OK so the car is leaking oil there is no good. So I need the BAD and Ugly.

07 Impala 130k miles oil seems to be leaking from above the oil pan. Seems to be leaking at a good rate I went through about 2qt in about 1000 miles. The car still runs good the oil pressue light came so I gave the oil a looksee and she was realy low and burnt after 3500 miles on the change. I normally go 7k per change without issue.

Also the tranny seems to be starting to slip at take off.

Is it worth the repair? the car is still running fine? not sure what the cause of this could be.

[MichaelSwan]

UGLY. Maybe a head gasket leak? I know that I also have 2 cars that have a manifold gasket leak, which leaks coolant into the oil/outside the block... That would be my guess. My expertise is hearing this kind of news and paying through the nose, lots to my mechanic... uhg.

Best of luck...

BTW, most mechanics will diagnose this type of thing for free.

[The Grebe]

Pan gasket.

[Jeremy airjer W]

the intake valley on the driver side of the engine is pretty common to leak. If its a 3.5 liter than I think they still use an oil pump drive which is also a known leaker on gm vehicles. It will be right under the throttle body bolted to the block. There is an o-ring that gets hard and brittle and once again very common to leak.

[crothmeier]

i have an '07 with the same amount of miles. I just replaced the oil pressure sending unit. it was leaking oil, and sending a bad signal. If you have the active fuel management engine, having the oil pressure light on will mess with the active fuel management system and a bunch of other electrical stuff, and it will be herky jerky when accelerating like you mentioned.

i just went through exactly everything you are describing and then some on my Impala.. oil pressure sending unit fixed it all. Its located down by the oil filter.