Oil leak

[NeddyBear]

For our VX birthday we wanted to surprise her with a new starter motor and so to get the right one I took some pictures and on the picture attached I see there's a slight oil leak.
Just wondering where the oil would be coming from and is it anything to be concerned about, the VX acclaim has done 260,000 ks and only uses 1/4 litre over 2,000 klms towing the camper trailer.

 

[Sabbath']

Going to be either rocker cover gasket or inlet manifold by the looks of it.

 

[NeddyBear]

Won't be the rocker cover gaskets, they were replaced a year ago.
Inlet manifold you say, is that the thing between the heads and is it worth replacing if the vehicles done 260,000 or would I be better off removing the engine and replacing all the gaskets, seals, rings and bearings.

 

[VTS5]

Going by that pic your engine is pretty clean,don't pull it out yet,just wash the effected area and wait for the fresh leak then act accordingly ...

 

[meady_183]

Could still be rocker cover gaskets, they are notorious for failure.

LIM gasket as Sabbath rightly suggested could also be the case. When the gasket fails though it often not only leaks externally but also into the cooling system, so check the radiator, particularly the cap for sludge. If so replace lim because it's easy and check around rocker covers for weeping/leaks.

Pulling out the motor and replacing all gaskets would be excellent, yes, but overkill. At the end of the day it's an ecotec v6, which are a dime a dozen. Drive it till it drops (which could be a long way off yet) and then replace it with a low km motor out of a newer model, and replace all gaskets on that before dropping it in if you feel that way inclined.

 

[NeddyBear]

Sounds like good advise and yes she's clean, we like to keep her that way and if something needs doing we just do it.
On the weekend I'll jack it up on stands and degrease the whole underside and then give it a month, we are going on a mountain biking holidays in 3 weeks to Darwin so that'll be a good run to show the leaks.
This week I'll get the rocker cover gaskets replaced and that way if the oil mark reappears then at least I'll know its more.
Should we ever need to replace the engine how modern can we go with the V6 engines to just install and connect up the wiring.

 

[monkey]

3.8l ecotecs ran from VS to VY series 2. VZ got the 3.6l alloytec.

 

[NeddyBear]

Alrighty then so its up to the VY model, is that what your saying.

 

[NeddyBear]

This is a picture of the oil leak from the back of the left rocker cover before it was cleaned and a new rocker cover seal fitted.

 

[NeddyBear]

Were back from our long trip and no further oil leaks so the rocker seal had to be the cause but 12 months from a new seal just isn't good enough and a genuine Holden seal to.