Chevrolet Oil Leaks
Chevrolet oil leaks are common, but not on my blazer with a trusted 4.3 Liter V-6 engine. Well maybe not trusted, but at least durable. In fact, so far the only problem I had involved the Vortec fuel injector assembly. However, I changed my oil this weekend, and to my surprise when I crawled under, the engine looked soaking wet with engine oil.
I thought to myself, this can’t be happening to me. The first truck I ever bought brand new needs to wear a diaper already? This 2004 Chevrolet Blazer ZR2 only has 19,846 miles on her. I gathered my thoughts and said, maybe it’s not that bad? So, I performed the oil change and dried up the area and then gave her short run.
When I crawled back under the oil pan looked wet again. I easily pinpointed the leak located at the front timing cover. The 2004 4.3 L V-6 has a composite timing cover.
This is one of the reasons that Chevrolet oil leaks remain a common issue. However, I was very surprised with the extremely low miles on my blazer that even this weak area was leaking oil.
But if you look at the picture above, you will see that this was no accident. And no, the leak isn’t from the crank shaft sensor assembly. I double checked that area because it’s a possibility for the o-ring on the sensor to leak.
Why Engines Leak Oil
Improper assembly at the plant caused this Chevrolet oil leak. You can clearly see that the industrial-strength RTV starts out with a nice thick bead and then it just completely disappears at the lower side of the timing cover. Me being a auto mechanic that worked at Chevrolet dealers for 20 years have seen this before.
What happened to me is that when they ran to bead of silicone the machine ran out of glue. And they assembled the engine anyway even though it was sure to leak oil. Unfortunately for me my base warranty of three years 36,000 miles was up two full years ago. This leaves me to solve the Chevrolet oil leaks on my own. And this is one ugly job.
How to Fix Chevrolet Oil Leaks
It’s difficult to remove the timing cover on any engine. To solve the Blazer oil leaks, I will have to obviously remove the timing cover. To accomplish this, the engine accessory bracket must be removed from the engine.
This means that the power steering pump, alternator and A/C compressor must also be removed. Oh and don’t forget that the water pump must also come off as well.
Since the water pump is five years old, it would sure make sense to replace this at the same time as resealing the timing cover. I hate replacing known good parts, but how much longer will the factory installed water pump from Chevrolet last?
Also, I found that the power steering pump is leaking, power steering fluid from the front shaft seal. So it looks like I will have to replace the power steering pump as well. I bought this blazer, brand-new in 2004 and paid cash for it because I do not believe in car payments.
If I cannot afford it then I do not buy it. That’s how I roll. But I also wanted to have a vehicle that I drive in instead of work on. Since I fix cars all day 6 days a week I did not want to also have to work on my own vehicle.
Unfortunately for me, this did not work out. I really liked this truck until this past weekend. In fact, I put up a car domain page all about my blazer ZR2. You can visit that page (opens in a new window) to see additional pictures and my story of how and why I bought this Chevrolet truck.