I have oil leaking from something I have no idea what the heck its that is leaking from. I have a 02 Venture. The thing the oil is leaking from is to the right of the oil filter if you are looking down from under the hood, its a gold color component, cylinder shaped with a small cylinder on top and a longer one on the bottom?? and the oil is POURING from the bottom of it. If anyone has any insight as to what the crap this is let me know because I cant afford to take it to a mechanic im going to have to have family memebers do the work for me or do it myself.

Hmm....looking at my Montana, the only thing that fits your description is the starter. The larger cylinder is the starter motor and the smaller cylinder is the solenoid. And I'm not sure why oil would be pouring out of it. Could it be coming from above the starter and appear to be coming out there?

Is the oil red or black? If red, then I guess it is possible that your torque convertor has let go and is filling the space between the engine and transmission with red transmission oil. It may then be leaking out where the starter bolts to the transmission. Check your engine oil level. If is is pouring out, then the oil level should have dropped. Same thing for the tranmission oil.

Hope this helps...Glen

If it's engine oil, it could be also a main seal. One other place that you may want to check is on top of the block almost directly under the throttle body. You should see a silver "cap" about an 1.5 inches across. See if that area is wet with oil. That is the top of the oil pump drive shaft. When the 3400 engine still had a distributor, that is where it came up. Since electronic ignition is now the standard, they had to seal it up somehow. Many vans start to leak oil there as there is full pressure under that cap and the seal was not made of a material that lasted long term under high heat and pressure.

I'd confirm that it isn't your Engine Oil Cooler.

This Vehicle is a bit different than most (you might need to explain this to your mechanic) as it has an OEM Oil cooler (The Oil filter screws into this and it is near your starter). The part is about $380 CAD from the Dealer (you'll need to buy it most likely from GM) and takes about 1/2 hr to change.

You're coolant/rad will also most likely require a good flush and change your oil, and again after a week to ensure there is no coolant mixed in (you'll see a white film under your oil cap).

These are prone to failure on these vehicles. I took mine to a dealer and another mechanic. The dealer quoted me $5K to fix it, even though I told him what the problem was and had even ordered the part for him.

I changed everything as a result myself and the vehicle runs perfectly.

You can also do a visual inspection around your intake manifold gaskets and tappet covers. A mechanic can do compression checks to see if it is perhaps a crack in your block. NOTE: the oil galleries are at the bottom of this engine, thus if your block is cracked, you'll get an oil leak but shouldn't get oil in your coolant.

I hope this helps!

Good luck with it.

n

I had an oil leak coming from the exact same area you described and got under the car with a flashlight and looked up and voila!!, there was the oil sender or pressure switch with oil dripping out from it. I bought a new one for 14.00 and no more oil leak. I hope this helps and that this is the problem.It's a pretty easy fix, you just have to unplug the connector and find a socket big enough to fit over the funny nut that you tighten the switch with.