How to Fix a Car Engine that Loses Oil (Leaks)

one, two, three, four! Rev up your engines! It’s time for the Scotty Kilmer Channel if you’re always having to add engine
oil to your engine, then stay tuned, because today I’m going to help you answer
the age-old question, why does my engine use oil, and what can I do about it,
now generally engines either leak oil or they burn the oil, so first check for
engine oil leaks, now if you’re having to add a quart of oil quite often, the leak
would be quite big if it was leaking, so you’ll be able to see it dripping under
the vehicle, look under the vehicle for wet spots around the engine, where
it’d be dripping, and of course look on the ground to see if there’s big puddle
of oil, because if you’re leaking that much oil that you have to add a quart
every once in a while, oil makes giant blobs, a quart of oil would leave a
football sized field blob underneath, and you’ll be able to see that it’s leaking,
so if you don’t see large amounts of oil either on the engine or dripping on the
ground, a leak isn’t your problem, if you’re going through a lot of oil, it
would be burning in that case, but if it is leaking oil, here’s the trick I’ve
used for years, you get some of this UV leak dye, and your poor little in the
engine oil, then you get one of these UV leak light detectors, and yellow
sunglasses, and look for where the green dye is coming out, and you can find the
leak, as you can see, when I put the yellow sunglasses over the camera, and
shine the light, you can easily see where the dyes come out where there’s a leak,
these UV systems are great for finding leaks, you don’t have to clean everything
off and get it whistle clean, and they pinpoint exactly where the dye is coming
from, well let’s say you don’t have any leaks, and you lose an oil, well that
means it’s burning it, and in that case, you want to hope that it’s just a clogged up PCV valve, that sucking oil into the engine and burning it, because otherwise
it’s serious internal engine damage, now in this Toyota, it’s kind of hard to
find a PCV valve, you don’t take a stupid cover off, and here’s the PCV hose, we’ll
follow the line down, and it goes to the valve, right down here, once you pull the
hose off, you can see the PCV valve right here, but sometimes they get old, and it
gets stuck open, then instead of suck in vapor in, they’ll suck
oil and burn it in the engine, now these PCV valves don’t cost much,
only a few dollars, so you might just take it out and change them every once
awhile to make sure they don’t get clogged up and suck oil in the engine,
now if you tried all this and you still find the engine’s burning oil, then take
out a spark plug, and if you find that the spark plug is full of all kinds of
burnt things, like this one is, then that means that your engine has a serious
internal problem, like bad valve seals, worn piston rings, it’s going to cost a
lot of money to rebuild the engine to stop that, but as you can see by the
gallon I have here, you can put a quart of this lucas oil stabilizer in, it can
often help slow down the oil burning and let cars run a few more years before the
engine finally goes out, and of course realized, you can prevent that from
happening in the first place by doing regular oil and filter changes in the
engine, then you won’t have to deal with this problem to begin with, so now you
know what to do if your engine starts using a bunch of oil, and just pray that
it’s a bad PCV valve or an oil leak, and not a worn out engine, and remember if you’ve
got any questions just visit the Scotty Kilmer channel.

82 thoughts on “How to Fix a Car Engine that Loses Oil (Leaks)

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    1. Bluetooth Scan Tool:

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    5. No Charging Required Car Jump Starter:

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    Things I used in this video:
    1. UV leak Dye:
    2. UV detection Kit:
    3. Lucas Oil Stabilizer:
    4. Flashlight:
    5. Disposable Gloves:
    6. Common Sense
    7. Full HD Camera:
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  2. Love the videos buddy! Quick question how much and how often should I be adding Lucas oil to squeeze those few years out of it? Unfortunately I'm leaking oil and I do use Lucas oil. Just wondering how often should I be adding it in.

  3. Hi Scotty Kilmer, I am curious about leaks in Fiat 500 Pop models. The rumor is that it was manufacturer issue, and it only served Canada/Europe not USA. Of course they still sold the car to USA but manufactured it in Mexico, the main reason they gave for identifying the cars with problems. Anyway, how can I make sure my car -a FIAT 500 pop is not leaking? where is the PCV located and what does a fuel Injection do for a car?

  4. Well i have that problem but i caused it when i had an accord i would run it hard revving the small 2.4l and i believe its the piston oil rings that are worn but ill replace the pcv valve cause i could be wrong

  5. I have an old atv on its last legs that burns a quart of oil every 10 miles, is there any way to slow the leaking down without rebuilding the engine

  6. My 97 Nissan pickup has 400,000 and has started to leak and burn some oil. What would you recommend to keep it going as long as possible before I need to replace the engine?

  7. Hi señor, I have a Bmw 325xi 2003, runs great, no black smoke. No leaks, new ccv. I have to add a quarter around every 1000 miles, what the means ???

  8. I love this guys videos. Very knowledgable. Its just unfortunate that he promotes autozone. Their fluids and chemicals are fine. Hard parts, alternators, starters, brakes etc., not so much.

  9. Hey Scot is it safe to delete pvc valve and just let the fumes vent out into a filter or catch can instead of intake manifold

  10. Scotty My engine is burning oil. all my mechanics cant find leaks and i replaced the pcv value and I got the same results. But I notice that I didn't have to add my oil as much when I wasn't traveling far or going too fast. I was good for 50-70 m/h for about 25 min. but once I started traveling farther and faster I was constantly adding oil again. I have a 2004 camery. Any other specific things I can do to help out.

  11. Hi Scotty
    I have Peugeot 308 2007 1.6SE.. Every month i have to put a litre engine oil in. Does that car also have a PCV valve or something else needs to be replaced? Whilst driving it also feels like the engine is dying or powerless.. the warning sign says 'depolution system faulty' and the coming and going regularly.. any help will be much appreciated?

  12. Scotty, I drive a Toyota celica 2000 I've been told that year celica has issues with worn piston rings. I tried the methods you recommended done some research on what it could be, and I keep coming back with worn out piston rings. Would it be worth replacing worn out piston rings when the engine is at 161,000 miles? Last thing would be is it a difficult job that would take days to complete if I were to do it at home?

  13. What if I have to keep topping up my oil but not "often?" it's every few months or so I need to put in a bottle of oil. Mine is a 2013 Subaru Impreza. The light is on right now. smh.

  14. wats the best engine estabilizer i gots a 5.7 vortec f.i with 180k on it. i used 5w-30 hi milleged syntetic oil all the time any suggestions r welcome.

  15. Hi. I have a question about the engine oil. Is it possible and also safe for the engine to mix two 5w-30 full synthetic oils with each other which are both dexos positive?? For example 5liter of penzzoil 5w30 full synthetic dexos + with 1lit of mobil 5w30 full synthetic dexos+? Thanks

  16. Scotty
    Do you happen to know where is the PCV valve is located at on a 08 Suzuki Grand Vitara, I can’t seem to find it

  17. I have a pretty big oil leak in my timing cover gasket on my 03 Mitsubishi eclipse Gt. It's been out for almost 6 months now. I just replaced the alt and battery so it starts but I can't seem to fix the oil leak

  18. Scotty will a bad pcv valve on my 93 Corolla cause it to throw smoke??I've only got 184,000 miles on the engine

  19. Well if it goes down some, you don't have to change your oil often since you are regularly adding oil.
    Mainly the filter will need to be changed, of course the "old oil" too.

  20. Hay I want to get a danali 2000 it has 230000 is this way to much to buy . $500 I have a Cadillac Escalade 2000 it has 187000 the Cadillac needs a rearend I want to take it out of the danili 2000 gmc an put it in my Cadillac Escalade will this work . R keep the danili with all the miles on it

  21. Hey man ive got a leak from my rear valve cover gasket in my nissan murano. Place im buying the car from has tried to change it 2 times but they have either pinched it or bent the cover its self.. My question is will the gaaket leak additives they sell possibly fix it and which do you recommend? Thnks for your time….

  22. That 'vette engine of yours needs some engine work dude. Looks rich as hell and / or oil consumption.

  23. Once I had a big leak couldn’t find the source. I finally noticed the oil cap area was very oily. I wiped it clean then it got oily again. It was the oil cap. I ordered a new for 15 bucks and no leak now

  24. A very good day to you scott. I have a problem with my Toyota Camry 2.7, 2008. I have checked for leaks but haven't seen any. It doesn't smoke. we suspect the rings, but since there's no smoke even after starting the engine in the morning, we are confused and so is our mechanic. Please I need your help sir.

  25. Hey question real quick, is there a chance that it can be both PCV problem and hot oil leaking? Also that RV stuff if you pour it into the engine is it going to damage it? Do I have to do oil change after so? Please velp

  26. Old cars I pretty much anticipate pulling the engine at some point to regasket everything. Most people don’t care to tear stuff apart like that but I don’t like stuff leaking.

  27. Scotty why are oil changes so expensive today ? I paid 85 dollars for one on a 2012 Honda civic at  Dobbs Tire & Auto Center

  28. Well my car like leaked all the oil and now I can’t even drive it to be fixed, so I just get the oil I need and pour it in?

  29. Hi sir Kilmer.just want to ask aquestion regarding the usage of Lucas engine oil stop leak.i have 2008 ford escape and i want to tru it.what is mixing ratio?how many engine oil and lucas stop leak engine oil i will put on my ford escape.thank ypu

  30. Scotty, you seem like a good dude. You put together great videos, very informative and I enjoy watching and hearing what you have to say. Thanks!

  31. 8th Gen Accord the worst ever for this issue, just gobbles 2qt between oil changes, which i need to top within 2k, i keep up with all proper maintenance schedule and no leak. Cleaned the pcv as well.

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