Oil Leaks for Dummies

The dreaded oil leak

Few things are more disturbing to car owners than that first glimpse of an oil stain under where they've parked overnight. Denial comes first – "Someone else left that!" – but, eventually, they realize that the car is "bleeding." The average person's first thought is to Google "What Makes a Car Leak Oil?" If you're lucky, you won't click on the post Tom Lutzenberger put together for eHow.com (now moved to ItStillRuns by Leaf Group). If you're not, well, here's what you'll find...

Lutzenberger (whose credentials include degrees in English, PolySci, and business) spends quite a bit of time talking about the different "types of oil" in your car. Those of us who have done our own maintenance prefer to talk about the (many) different fluids, but if Tom thinks there are only two, that's on him. Lutz says that,

"A car runs with two kinds of oil: transmission fluid and engine oil"...

...to which we suggest one might add power steering fluid, brake fluid, differential oil, etc.; all of which can leak. But hey, if just two works for you, Tom, fine: just get it right!

But he didn't: for instance Tom says of transmission fluid, "The transmission fluid helps keep the transmission, gears, differential and clutch (if you have a manual transmission) working. It provides a lubricant for moving parts to mesh with each other without grinding and destroying each other due to friction." There are, as people who understand cars know, a couple of things wrong with that: first, you NEVER want a lubricant on a clutch, because friction is extremely important! Second, Tom apparently didn't know (or didn't think it important) that transmission fluid is the medium by which the engine power is transmitted to the drivetrain in an automatic tranny! Lutzenberger then continues to demonstrate his unfamiliarity with vehicles, telling us that

"Engine oil can also leak from the hoses and lines that pump the oil into the engine and drain it out"...

...thereby demonstrating an utter failure to understand the concept of a crankcase or an oil pan. The only "hoses and lines" filled with oil in the engine compartment are related to power steering and brakes (and maybe a turbocharger). Dumbass!

Tom, it would have been far more useful to discuss the locations of the gaskets that might fail, or even something as simple as a loose drain plug in the oil pan. Heck, maybe some basic troubleshooting – like the factoid that transmission fluid is (usually) red while engine oil is brown-black. But no, he didn't know that and yet wrote anyway. Small wonder he's getting another Dumbass of the Day award – his ninth.

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