jnb426

Hey everyone, I'm new here and I'm hoping you guys can give me a little advice. I'll give a brief history of my problem: I take my 97 civic ex coupe in to the dealer for an oil change, with no visible oil leak. They tell me that they have to replace the oil pan because the plug is stripped. I have them replace it and pick it up and it's leaking now. There is oil leaking down the front and back of the oil pan and it leaks the most when the engine is off. So I have several questions:

1. does this sound suspicious to any of you?
2. How can they tell for sure that it is the rear main seal and not the oil pan gasket?
3. what would cause the rear main seal to start leaking all of the sudden if that is what it is...
4. could it be an oil pan gasket that wasn't installed right or is faulty and they just dont want to admit it?
5. how can i tell if the oil is coming from the rear main seal or the oil pan gasket?

The service manager has agreed to look at the car with me this time and I just wan to be prepared in case they try to screw me around. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

schardbody

the only way to tell would be to clean the oil off real good and let it dry, then drive the car like normal and look to see if the oil is leaking from the oil pan gasket or if its coming from the flywheel inspection cover and blowing up onto everything.

tell them you didnt have a leak before and your word should be enough for them to believe you. if not there isnt much you can do.

Juan_Mitosis

Why would you take your old car to a dealer for an oil change? You should do it yourself, NEVER trust them. I've heard tons of horror stories and read here tons more on shops n dealers doing oil changes and forgetting stuff or just adding other used oil reusing filter, etc. YES it sounds terribly suspicious. Hope u get ur car fixed!