My car has been leaking either oil or tranny fluid for some time now, but it seems to have gotten worse. To top that off, last saturday I parked the car in an extremely awkward position that I changed once I stepped out of the car and noticed the way it looked. Basically the inside corners of the left tires were in contact with a friends driveway, while the right hand tires were on the grass. Picture a driveway that has grass edges that slope SHARPLY downward, (maybe 50 degrees or so). After telling this to many people they tell me that shouldn't have hurt the car, but since that day, the car has been making horrible grinding noises when turning the steering wheel, and I can't isolate the noise very well but it's coming from the front of the car, possibly front-driverside. It sounds like hard abrasive metal components rubbing against each other. I'm wondering if having the car slanted like that, albeit for only 45 seconds was enough to make the fluid that was leaking leak out even more. The car is currently sitting on jack stands awaiting for my dumbass to figure out what's wrong with it, and I'm stuck driving my soulless Camry around until then. :(

cant really picture what youre saying about the angles and what not, but it sounds like you just messed up the wheel bearings by the way you described the noise.

You're probably not going to figure out what's wrong with the car without taking it apart. I'd start by checking the tranny fluid level. Then, I'd check the driver-side wheel and rock it from the top and bottom to find play in the wheel bearings. Just a start.

cant really picture what youre saying about the angles and what not, but it sounds like you just messed up the wheel bearings by the way you described the noise.
Imagine attaching cables with hooks to the inside of the left hand wheels and pulling, and this gives you an idea of how the weight of the car was sitting on the tires. My first guess was wheel bearings but the people I explained the situation to said that the car should be strong enough to handle that. I'll probably start taking shit apart with this three day weekend.

If your axle was not as tight as it needs to be it really might be the wheel bearing....... and watch that soulless Camry stuff :squint: :D

Automatic Transmission = No Soul

Automatic Transmission = No Soul

I do see what you mean, I do get bored driving now that I am rolling the Camry..... No loud exhaust, backfire, or shifting.... I think I have pressed the e brake like 5 times when I have gone to start it..... damn I need a 5 speed in there...

..... damn I need a 5 speed in there...


Check your PMs

I found out that my dipstick tube completely broke off. It is more than likely that that is the only leak I have, and that it just covered everything under the car making it look like I had more leaks than I actually did.

did it back out or break off?

did it back out or break off?
From what I can tell it backed out, is this common?

gl.........

In case anyone is wondering, I reinserted the dipstick tube, and changed the oil and filter, then took the car for a drive. I still was hearing that awful noise, and there is this burning smell, which I'm not sure if I mentioned that. I later realized that this was probably a powersteering issue, as it only happened when turning the wheel at parking lot speeds, or when just sitting still. So I check the ps fluid, and it's so low, that it doesn't even touch the dipstick. I fill that up, and bleed the system, and shazaam! the problem goes away. I'm so happy about this, then I notice that there is a fresh puddle of Dexron on the floor under my car, and I didn't spill a drop, so I know there is a leak. When I degrease my engine bay, the leak should be easier to find, cause right now there is oil and tranny/ps fluid all over the place. And I also noticed that I'm still leaking a small amount of oil, but haven't figured out where cause the area around the dipstick tube is dry. It's possible that the oil is simply from a small spill when I last changed the filter a couple days ago, and it just took its time to drip down, but I doubt that cause of the fact I drove the car for a while after changing the oil. You'd think any oil sitting in the engine bay would have dripped down, (I drive like Mr. Toad if you haven't figured that out yet.)

So yeah, I'm making progress with the car, and as soon as I figure out where the leaks are at, I can fix that shit and get back on the road. :biggthump

Nice to hear it was an easy fix! :D

Found the leak on one of the power steering hoses. I don't know what the name of it is, but I know what it looks like. Hopefully I can get ahold of a parts catalogue or something. I want to get the one on cdrom. I've searched a bunch and haven't found a topic on it here, so if someone has a copy of it and would be willing to burn it for me, then let me know. A hose should be cheap enough to replace that I can just go to the dealer without signing a contract to give my first born away right?

Back before I bought my first Se-r, I read alllllll about them and their problems. The dipstick backing out was a thing that was mentioned I think on se-r.net. I have never experienced it though.

As far as the dipstick goes, I have another issue. After reinserting the dipstick tube and changing the oil, I put the 3 5/8 quarts that the manual recommended with a filter change. Then I went to check the dipstick after running the car for a little bit, then letting it sit for a few minutes and it tells me the oil is way over full. So I've heard from different sources to do different things. One friend told me to go by what the dipstick says, another friend says to go by what the manual says. Both are very mechanically inclined. What should I do? When I went with the dipstick and ignored the manual, it only took 2 7/8 quarts of oil to fill up without a filter change. It should have been 3 3/8 without the filter. :confused:

you got to remember that there will still be fluid to take into consideration that is still in the filter

you got to remember that there will still be fluid to take into consideration that is still in the filter
This is true, but the way that I always changed my oil in the past was to drain it while it's hot, then add the amount specified in the manual. The result of this would be that the dipstick would show the oil to be right at the max level, no more, no less. And when I say I change it while hot, I mean like after I've driven the car for an hour at an average around 2.5k-3k rpms. Touching the oil filter when it's this hot is just short of unbearable. And when I let it drain, I usually go away for about ten minutes and let as much oil drain as possible. Like I said, in the past this method has always worked for me, ever since re-inserting the dipstick tube though, not so much. :confused: Intuitively I'd follow what the manual says, but the risk of overfilling my engine with oil bothers me a lot.

Replaced the leaking power steering hose, and am now driving the car regularly again, though the oil is still filled according to the dipstick, so I hope it is correct.