How to Find and Fix a Rear Engine Oil Leak: Yukon / Tahoe / Silverado / Sierra / Suburban

[@alexcharow7282]

Do this first. Just snug up the 2 bolts with a 10 mm wrench. Wipe it down to get any oil off. If it still leaks after a week. Then replace the seal.

[@doncallicott1696]

Great video and informative. Blessings on raising those children on the farm.

[@FarmDad]

Thank you so much!

[@matthew8193]

Well no wonder. I had already replaced this once and the dumbass at the counter gave me the block off plate and I have Cooling lines. This helps a lot. I ordered the correct one from your link and will change it next oil change. Small leak is fine for now lol

[@FarmDad]

Glad this helped. I've been given many of wrong parts over the counter.

[@garrettwalker1462]

Thanks for the video. Hopefully this is the problem I’m having my 2014 Escalade. Congratulations on the property and may God bless you and your family

[@FarmDad]

Bless you and yours too. Thanks!

[@pianodude07]

I had a similar issue. However, the culprit was the oil pressure sensor. It was coming loose and oil was seeping out. I replaced it and tightened it and no more oil leaks!

[@FarmDad]

Nice. That's not an easy sensor to get to either!

[@LukeL1234]

Hey I’m having the same issue was the starter covered in oil? Mine is so I’m kinda stumped where it could be from.

[@andresimmons6249]

​@damn4346 did u figure what your issue was. I'm having a similar problem

[@ScarabChris]

Great video! I have a 2008 Escalade EXT 6.2 all wheel drive. It leaks oil, I estimate maybe a half tea spoon in a 24-48 hour period based on what I see on the driveway, also depending on how much driving I did. I was thinking the most common problem, rear crank seal. But then I learned about that inspection cover. My oil leak is coming from higher up, above the oil filter. The underside of my truck is identical to yours. I see no oil at all when looking at the engine from under the hood so not a valve cover so I suspect the oil cooler lines now as well. I will jack it up this weekend for a closer look. EDIT..Yes my truck has the full tow package and I do tow a 7,000 pound trailer 4-5 times a year and it does leak more oil when I tow.

[@FarmDad]

Sounds like the same problem as mine. Luckily it's an easy fix!

[@dailys1979]

My 09 Silverado looks identical as far as the leaks go. I’ve been messing with it the last couple days trying to find the leak. I was thinking rear main when I saw the oil accumulated around the trans inspec plate but after popping it off everything is dry inside. The oil seems to start at that gasket. I’ll be ordering one now. Thanks!!!

[@FarmDad]

Glad I was able to keep you from dropping the trans. I first thought I was heading down that road too and was so glad when this was all it was.

[@jhtubevids]

So do you have an update? Did this fix your leak. I have 2009 esv and when i looked the other day it looked 💯 like your did and i was suspect of this same block but i didn't know what it was

[@alonsoamezcua2386]

Currently have the same issue last week did my oil change noticed a lot of oil leaking from over the oil filter cleaned it all up finished my oil change drove it and now looks exactly like your video. Haven't checks the inspection cover, hoping it's the oil cooler line gasket.

[@FarmDad]

Hope that's it too as it's an easy fix.

[@ShireBurgo]

Did you figure it out? Appreciate any info.

[@thesetruths1404]

I have a 2005 Yukon 5.3L 4x4. Looks exactly the same. I may have a very slow rear main leak. I just got it and am watching it now after a fresh oil change. Has 216,000 miles on it. Seems to run great though. 3 questions: 1. Was there a cover on your inspection hole that shows the bottom of the flex plate? Mine does not have a cover of any type. I can see the bottom of the flex plate. 2. I have a pair of ramps that raises vehicles back or front tires by about 12". Would that be helpful to use for this job? 3. So the rear seal has two parts? A shaft seal, plus a shaft seal cover gasket? If the cover plate gasket leaks, where is that oil coming from, the rear main seal that's leaking? Why is there cover plate gasket to begin with, to keep the seal/crank area as clean as possible? Thanks!

[@thomastaddeo2736]

What are those lines next to the inspection window ?

[@FarmDad]

Trying to think, are you talking about the trans cooler lines?

[@TheCommonSenseExpert]

Do you have to change the oil pan and oil gasket when doing this job ?

[@FarmDad]

Only if it's leaking from there.

[@TheCommonSenseExpert]

@@FarmDad I got a diagnostic for a rear main seal they said it would be $1280.00. The break down Oil pan gasket $50 labor $190 Oil cooler gasket $5.00 labor $47.50 Main seal $84 Labor $760 Tax not included. How does this sound to you?

[@tobydozier9030]

@@TheCommonSenseExpert lol like they are gonna rape you if you allow them to. It’s wise and practical to be a DIY kinda of person this day and age.

[@massachusettsprepper]

Yes sir my friend the power of deduction and then getting it fixed. Thanks for sharing.👍

[@wyomingadventures]

Nice to see someone else keeps things clean under the hood. Very interesting to see the newer Ls engine. How do get the oil filter off? It looks tight around there. My old pickup oil filter is hard to get around the filter so I use a special tool to get to it. I do believe in using Original manufacturing parts. Great job with the video!❤🐥🦆🚘😊

[@77ryan0341]

I have to use a strap-style filter wrench that uses a nylon strap that wraps around a squares metal tube that my 1/2” drive ratchet fits in. I have to rebite often but it works.

[@melissaholden1845]

I had a similar issue found the bolts loose on the plate under the intake plenum that the oil pressure sensor screws into. 5.3 has cylinder shutdown solenoid under the plate vibration loosens plate bolts

[@FarmDad]

Good place to check, for sure.

[@macstallyon]

Will a bad oil sender unit cause oil to be inside the inspection plate?? I’m loosing a quart a day and it says it the oil sending unit but the oil seems to be dripping around and out of that hole

[@FarmDad]

Location sounds like a rear main seal, but dang that's a lot of oil loss. Your oil sending unit would probably have to be missing to lose that much oil from it. You would be able to reach and feel the sending unit from the top of the engine and feel oil around it if it's leaking.

[@m7md32323]

Thanks for this good video🙏, and I have a question, is it necessary to return the oil to the engine?

[@FarmDad]

Check the oil level when finished and top off as necessary.

[@m7md32323]

Thank you so much Farm Dad

[@Official510LOW]

The cooler doesn’t have any coolant lines going to it? Most Benz and bmw do is why I ask

[@TheseBygones]

This is GENERAL MOTORS, not bmw or Mercedes.

[@DanielDaniel1]

Man I thought my rear main was leaking too on my 11 denali but it sure is my oil cooler lines. They're really seeping bad at the radiator side hose crimps

[@chaselyons2033]

Is it normal to have black sludge and what looks to be oil along those metal lines & the bottom of the engine?

[@FarmDad]

The sludge is probably oil from your leak that has accumulated road dirt in it.

[@jamesBassMan81]

Does it makes a difference if you replace the old cooler block off plate with a oil cooler gasket?

[@FarmDad]

I would just use the correct gasket since they don't cost much.

[@sa-ma-dhi]

05 Chevy Tahoe didn't have cooler lines but I used the blue and silver gasket, works fine no leaks.

[@MUCKFOOT399]

mine was leaking from the canooter valve.

[@FarmDad]

Yeah, I've had to replace the gasket on plenty of them. Very common. Also very expensive and difficult to find.

[@bmathers21]

I have a friend who chromed his canooter valve. Can you believe that!? It's not like anyone's ever gonna see the damn thing 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@MUCKFOOT399]

@@bmathers21 I had Tim toolman Taylor fix mine.

[@edubermudez]

Hard job mate, big like from edu my friend 👍

[@ChristyNicole1978]

Me too, mine is a 2007 Denali xl. Leak was driving me crazy. Great video

[@williamgentile997]

Thanks for the good video! I had the same leak on my 2007 Yukon Denali!

[@edgarcorrea6085]

I had same issue, replaced that gasket but still leaking

[@Perception1726]

Ive replaced the cooler and transmission lines and valve cover gaskets still have oil leak. And the oil pan gasket. Oil still drips from the starter and around the oil drain plug. Also it is dry inside when remove the cap like you did in the video. Any ideas where else it could be looking from??? Thanks, Zach

[@Perception1726]

Leaking from

[@voodooman1337]

@@Perception1726 Dunno if you figured it out yet or not, but like others have said, the oil pressure unit on the top back could be leaking, in which case you may need a new one. I'm still hunting my leak but I also found that the camshaft sensor leaks oil bad too, though that will usually look like it is coming from the rear main aswell as it drains into the bell housing. the sensor is fine, but you can replace the two O-rings in there, as they get hard and loose. aside from that, grommets on the valve cover bolts can leak oil, and from what I have heard but not seen, if your pcv valve on the driver side cover is bad, it will also cause an oil leak. Let me know if you did, or do figure it out, it might help me in hunting down mine.

[@OneFamilia]

Maybe rear main seal

[@Perception1726]

@@voodooman1337 new grommets on valve cover fixed it👍

[@voodooman1337]

@@Perception1726 Glad you got it! mine have already been replaced, so unfortunately this fix wont work for me though.

[@womanswrench]

the amount of pure envy that is coursing through my entire being over how you so obviously do not live in the rust belt & how beautiful & well maintained your undercarriage is & that you’re actually able to dutifully maintain it - is not ok ! but anyway - thanks for this video. have been dealing with this leak for 2 weeks now in the same exact area. i checked my rear main via the inspection cap 2 weeks ago when this started…. id recently put my valve body4 back in after id rebuilt it & likewise - it was dry. used the uv dye - wasn’t all that helpful…so i am actually finally able to get under my yuk, replace this & hopefully put an end to it. hopefully. otherwise - this is probably something much more of a PITA & a definite day ruiner.

[@FarmDad]

I am originally from Kentucky and I have to say my favorite thing about living in Arkansas is the lack of rust! I brought a blazer with me when I moved to the deep south and I still remember the first time I went to the junkyard to scavenge parts for it, every junked blazer had less rust than the mine that I was fixing! Lol

[@kennethporth2464]

How yo check fluids and grease and oil on y con 2004

[@DoctorRickSanchez]

_English pls ty_

[@tipsytrippinrednecks]

Wow thats so bloody awesome hell yeah, cheers

[@TheCanadianBubba]

Nice work Dad !

[@chaselyons2033]

Can I just use blue devil oil stop?

[@FarmDad]

I'm not familiar with this product but I prefer to fix leaks with gaskets rather than chemicals.

[@peteloomis8456]

I tried the same stuff on my 09 & it didn't stop the leaks . GM had porosity problems on these alloy 5.3 engines that causes them to leak oil . Right now their are 3 class action lawsuits against GM because of this because many people are having oil leaking issues with them . Some people that bought new 2009 GM trucks with the alloy 5.3 some that had as little as 13,000 miles on them when new had issues with them leaking oil. Who ever GM used to cast the engine blocks must not have been ISO 90002 certified for quality standards and made crappy engine castings that were known to have porosity in the castings those should have been scrapped & remelted down to make another block out of the scrap aluminum just like we did with bad parts when I was a die caster for many years . My 09 is leaking so I am trading it off on something else because I refuse to pay big bucks to fix this P.O.S truck that GM designed which ticks me off being the American people & the government bailed them out in the last recession so what do they do stab us in the back & make junk like these damn alloy engines along with the AFM problems with oil consumption because of stuck rings & lifters that go bad on these as well . Pretty bad when my old 93 Dodge truck I had with the 318 for 8 years that had 220,000 miles on it that still ran good didn't leak nearly as bad as this truck I have now & if it weren't for the body finally rusting out I probably would have kept it because of no oil leakage or oil consumption plus it was easier to work on .

[@Sebastian-dx2xg]

Good video. My truck looks like it’s leaking from there also

[@FarmDad]

Thanks! Should be an inexpensive fix.

[@mwmceo6145]

Is there torque specs on it ?

[@FarmDad]

Probably, I don't know what they are off hand. Tight with a 1/2 in drive ratchet, but not overly tight with 3/4 in drive ratchet 🫣🤷😉

[@kevinprell5263]

Just had my oil lines replaced and still have leaks in the same area

[@ShireBurgo]

Did you figure out what the problem was? Appreciate any info

[@kevinprell5263]

It was the rear main seal , I put 3 ounces of break fluid in the oil drove

[@ShireBurgo]

@kevinprell5263 thanks for responding. Did know that brake fluid is very harsh on rubber gaskets and plastic. Hope it didn't do any damage. Thanks for the info. Glad you found it. Never heard of doing it that way. But you could of used some dye. Put pressure on the oil fill hole and wait for the dye to come out where the leak is.

[@kevinprell5263]

@EricTireguy old trick my dad showed me he was a mechanic for 40 yrs all I know it it works I drove my truck 50 miles an came home from Sioux city an put card board under it and there was no oil on it the nxt morning

[@PeterBranco]

And Avalanches. thank you for the video!

[@FarmDad]

Good call

[@BingGeaux]

cool. i don't see any drips of oil, no smudges or smears of oil underneath the truck, no smells of burned or burning oil, but there's either an oil thief, a leak or I never put oil back in the truck. (the latter is highly unlikely)

[@BingGeaux]

the general consensus is that I used it up...the way I drive maybe? It was burned in the engine???

[@CooperFamilyHomestead]

good stuff! luckily it was a rear main

[@MUCKFOOT399]

luckily? wtf!

[@TheseBygones]

That's not lucky what the hell!

[@franciskovaldovinos2409]

Thank you for the information

[@FarmDad]

No problem. Thank you!

[@jimmiesanchez7962]

Did it fix the leak ??

[@FarmDad]

Of course.

[@jimmiesanchez7962]

Lol ok Thanks you kinda just left us hanging there 😅

[@FarmDad]

@@jimmiesanchez7962 sorry!

[@claycelblogthefarmerfamily]

good advice on not to buy a Fel-Pro Gaskets if thats how its work good video my friend always

[@rm5902]

Fel Pro the best. Used 4 decades. No problems.

[@ronniehdable]

Thank you sir!

[@FarmDad]

Welcome!

[@kjkj6362]

I’m looking at a 2008 avalanche 5.3 that has oil slowly dripping like this and all along that bottom bar I can also smell burning oil when I drive it… Should I walk away or is it something that can be fixed

[@FarmDad]

I would want to know the source of the oil before buying. If it's a rear main seal, walk away for sure. Mine was sort of best case scenario in this video.

[@kjkj6362]

@@FarmDad copy that I’ll let you know

[@kjkj6362]

I walked off the lot today, he said his mechanics would check it and he would let me know but the smell of burning oil tells me probably more serious

[@FarmDad]

@@kjkj6362 probably made a good choice

[@texasvet54]

My daughter just came from the dealer & she was told that her small oil leak towards the front of her 5.3L Suburban engine will require the replacement of a front seal, the rear seal and another seal that I can’t remember what she said. Dealer wants $2700 & I told my daughter to find another mechanic. I’ve worked on cars for 50+ years & I never had a V8 engine with 75k miles need $2700 worth of engine work for seals. anyone else have three seals leaking on a relatively low mile engine?

[@FarmDad]

I definitely recommend a second opinion. Hard to imagine 3 different seals all leaking already on a low mileage engine. Are you sure that it wasn't just one seal, but they are replacing the other two while in there while it's apart? I guess that's probably not the case since they said front and rear.

[@texasvet54]

@@FarmDad Don’t know. This same dealer told my friend’s daughter that her high mileage truck engine needed replacement to the tune of $6K when her truck shut down. My friend towed it to another dealer & it was a faulty oil pressure sending unit. $300 & she was up & running.

[@texasvet54]

@@FarmDad So, I took my daughter’s suburban to the dealer where I get my oil changed and he looked at it for free. They put it on a lift and showed me that the front seal was not leaking at all and the rear seal wasn’t leaking enough to even mention. So, I took my daughters suburban home and put it on my ramps & got underneath & I cleaned all the grime off everything I could find and then ran it for several hours and can’t find any leak. $2,700 my arse!!!! Just another example of a mechanic taking advantage of a woman. 😤

[@FarmDad]

@@texasvet54 I'm happy you don't have a lot of work to do, but sad this garage was taking advantage of y'all!

[@noecollazo3060]

Muy buen video amiguito

[@FarmDad]

Thank you!

[@Dvdinhulkmania]

Yeah that’s probably where mines is leaking from

[@jaceski5806]

So judging by the gasket that truck doesnt have an oil cooler…

[@FarmDad]

It does have one. I thought in the video I show both gaskets at some point.

[@franklee9127]

It'd be best to perform this repair at the same time you are changing the oil, that way it won't leak a lot of oil all over you

[@FarmDad]

#WorkSmarterNotHarder 🤟

[@JayyMoney-vr7nv]

@@FarmDaddid you remove the oil first? Or with oil still in it

[@FarmDad]

@@JayyMoney-vr7nv I did mine with oil still in it, but i like the idea of doing this during an oil change

[@JayyMoney-vr7nv]

@@FarmDad oh okay and I just cleaned the plate and turned it back on the right side near the starter seems to be where the leak is coming from

[@TheCanadianBubba]

Nice work Dad !