How many reliable cars have you owned...

casm

casm

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Oklahoma
...That had oil leaks?

I'm excluding the Jeep engines from this since they all do it, but the valve cover gasket leak mine has developed got me to thinking about this. Every car I've ever owned that was dead reliable had an oil leak, with one exception: the Subaru pickup. It never leaked oil, but the top of the fuel tank rotted out from mud sandwiched between it and the bed. But it always ran without hesitation.

So - yours? Just curious if there's a commonality here.
 
I've owned several VW bugs, buses, squarebacks and all of them leaked oil but ran strong. My only problems were when running dual carbs and having to synch them on the side of the highway, but otherwise good engines. All of them modified though, so not sure if that counts.
 
You got me thinking... and I don't think I've ever owned a vehicle that didn't leak oil.. reliable or not lol.
 
93 Z24 Cavalier 3.1L-valve covers
89 Cavalier RS 2.0L-valve cover, front and rear main seal
82 S-10 V-8 Coversion-rear main seal, valve covers(fixed that one!)
84 Camaro V-8 Conversion (mostly same motor, freshend up)-no leaks
84 Pontiac Fiero 2.5L-valve cover
88 Chevy C-1500 5.0L-no leaks, no o/p lol
89 Camaro RS 5.0L-no leaks
all run/ran fine, and still running except the S-10 which donated its powerplant to the 84 Camaro project...and the Z24 which tried to relocate a 100yr old oak one day...bad day....
 
my sundance leaked oil from th valve covers onto the exhaust manifold.
Caught fire opne day when I stopped, put it out with a biggie coke.
the escort never leaked anything, but the top of the tank rusted out.
the heep leaks, and it's not really reliable, so it doesn't count.
Wife's camry doesn't leak a drop after 106K miles.
new honda doesn't seem to leak anything@ 136K, we'll see.
 
I've owned 9 Subarus, 1 88' Chevy PU and 1 96 XJ. Ive only been driving "legally" for 10 years. they have all leaked oil at some point. the subarus were the most reliable (I've only had the XJ for a month) and I dont have much to say about the chev, other than it pretty much sucked.
 
I'm going to have to second VW's. The old style pancake motors. Most all leaked from the pushrod tubes and/or the case seals. I've done more off roading in a VW than I have in a Jeep. I have to attest to there reliability, just bring some extra oil along.
 
Last edited:
8Mud said:
I'm going to have to second VW's. The old style pancake motors. Most all leaked from the pushrod tubes and/or the case seals. I've done more off roading in a VW than I have in a Jeep. I have to attest to there reliability, just bring some extra oil along.
Click to expand...

I had a 73 camper (the "suitcase" engine) that leaked from absolutely everywhere. It came out the pushrod tubes, the crankcase seals, the oil cooler, the valve covers, and periodically from the pressure sensor (You'd think they could make a good one eventually....). Blue smoke came out the heater. Heat didn't of course. I got to wondering whether I should bother to open the engine lid or just dump the oil straight on the ground.

But it ran great. 169 thousand miles on the original engine is not bad for any air cooled VW. When I moved to Vermont, I realized I'd have to have it inspected, so I retired it. I had it stored in my barn for years, finally gave it away a couple of years ago, realizing I'd never bother to get it going again.
 
Between me and my dad we have owned 4 volvo's with over 200k on each and all leaked some amount of oil, but ran really well. Still have one left with over 300k and the tranny is starting to act up now. But it might get a 5.0 conv soon:D

Andrew
 
The car I had before my Jeep was a 1994 Mustang GT that had a pretty bad oil leak. I drove the ever loving sh*t out of it up until the day I sold it and it never even came close to breaking down on me. It was very reliable!!
 
My 87 Conquest had the worst oil leak of anything I ever had. The oil coller lines had a rubber section in them for flex and it had rotted out. I bought $200 in stell braided AN stuff to do away with the lines and it go KOed 3 days later lol. It was a very fun quick car(added super 16G turbo as an upgrade and some other junk) but it wasn't reliable at all lol.
 
Well every car I've had has leaked oil at one time or another, whether the car was reliable or not...except for one little tuff 79' Ford Fiesta Ghia. It went 300k on the original engine/tranny with no leaks. I ended up owning 3 of these cars in a row and no engine/tranny problems with any of them. If I could still get parts for the Fiesta I would still be driving them.
 
Just bought a POS plymouth Laser bottom of the line edition fron the tow yard for $300. runs great. oil leak ofcourse. my buddy had another model vehicle eagle talon which had all leather enterior. he totaled 2 of those vehicles. so now i have a $300 pos with new leather interior and rims off a TSI... not bad.
 
before the heep, I have owned three 'Yotas. They all leaked oil. They were all very reliable and very forgiving vehicles. The guy that bought my last one (a 94) from me called after he got it home. He had taken it to the stealership to have it checked over and they told him it was leaking from every possible place on the engine. He had the nerve to call it a lemon and asked me to buy it back.
 
dspilot said:
before the heep, I have owned three 'Yotas. They all leaked oil. They were all very reliable and very forgiving vehicles. The guy that bought my last one (a 94) from me called after he got it home. He had taken it to the stealership to have it checked over and they told him it was leaking from every possible place on the engine. He had the nerve to call it a lemon and asked me to buy it back.
Click to expand...
come on man come clean, what wheels better heep or the yoda?
 
Smittty9785 said:
come on man come clean, what wheels better heep or the yoda?
Click to expand...

I've wheeled both, Heeps, by far. There is only so much a IFS will take, and a SAS is expensive on a Yota. You have to go all the way back to 85' to find a solid axle Toy unless you get a very expensive FJ-80. Jeeps wheel better stock and are much cheeper to build.
 
Haven't wheeled the jeep yet, but my bets would be on it. The last Yota was ext cab lwb, read:loooooong. Never really had it off road. I had two straight axles before it (84 and 88), but never could really afford any mods then. They were both pretty good off road though.
 
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