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I JUST BOUGHT A DODGE INTREPID ( 1999) AND HAVE A OIL ...


Sent to Car Experts November 25, 2005 10:19 a.m.

I JUST BOUGHT A DODGE INTREPID ( 1999) AND HAVE A OIL
LEAK (BUT ITS ON THE TOP OF THE ENGINE, BUT I DISCOVERED THAT I HAVE A CRACKED PIECE OF PLASTIC HOSE THAT IS CONNECTED TO THE ENGINE BY A PLASTIC VALVE AND THEN GOES TO THE AIR CLEANER COULD THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE OIL LEAK,ALSO MY CHECK ENGINE LIGHT WILL NOT GO OUT

Optional Information:
1999 Dodge intrepid

Customer (name blocked for privacy)
Status: Closed   Value: $10   
Answer
November 25, 2005 10:36 a.m. (17 minutes and 24 seconds later)
ACCEPTED Check Mark

Greetings:

The hose you are describing sounds like the PCV hose. These are available as replacement parts from any Dodge dealer, and are inexpensive. A broken PCV hose could result in a "check engine" light being on due to a vacuum leak affecting fuel mixture, but a PCV hose should not leak oil unless the engine is badly worn and has a lot of blowby.

Since there are many possible places to leak oil on these engines, many of which are not visible without some engine disassembly, I would suggest taking the vehicle in to a repair shop to have the oil leak diagnosed by UV dye testing.

To perform this quick, inexpensive test, a technician will add a small amount of oil based dye to the engine oil that will glow under UV light. The engine is then run for a while, placed on a hoist, and the bottom inspected with a high intensity UV light. Usually, you will see a bright yellow glowing trail leading back upwards to the source of the oil leak. Often, it is not the component that you thought it was upon initial inspection; this is a standard method of locating leaks these days and works very well.

The check engine light could vbe on for literally hundreds of reasons; it is pretty much a generic "something is wrong" light. The powertraiin controller turns this light on when it sees something abnormal related to drivetrain operation: such as a sensor value out of range or not changing as expected, a controlled component not responding to commands, or as a result of other things such as emission evap system air leaks, EGR flow problems, vacuum leaks, or catalytic converter efficiency problems. The only way to accurately diagnose this type of problem is to use a scan tool to check for fault codes, frozen data from when the problem first occurred, and to read live engine data to compare to normal values for diagnosis. Since the car is new to you, having a technician look it over and diagnose the "check engine" light problem at the same time aas checking for oil leaks might be a wise investment; it may receal things about the vehicle that you are unaware of at present.

I hope this is helpful to you; if so, an accept would be most appreciated! thanks!

PictureSteve7654  -- Auto Service Technician -- 99% Positive Feedback on 1650 Car Accepts
27 yrs ASE L1 Master Technician, Service manager

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