Why's my car leaking oil and how can I fix it?

What's happening is I have a Chevy Cavalier 2000 and oil is slowly leaking all over the sides of the top of the engine. Apparently it's coming from the head gasket. I'm not a car mechanic or anything but I'm going to try and sell my car and a friend of mine is going to take a look at it with me on Monday. We were looking at my engine after work and all the screws that hold down the top of the engine (sorry I don't know the terminology) were loose. And he said that's probably where the oil leak was coming from. He said that probably due to vibration the screws came loose and that's what caused the oil leak. So I was thinking about taking the top of the engine off, cleaning everything up and then resealing it, and then cleaning up the screws and then screwing everything back on. Does that sound good? Or could it be another problem? I'm thinking that the top part of the engine just came loose. Thanks.Why's my car leaking oil and how can I fix it?
does not sound like a Major problem and like the others say it would be the rocker cover/Valve cover or cam cover anyway providing that is the problem area you should be able to to pick up a gasket kit or some sealant compound....


you want to take off the leaky section and clean up the surfaces being care full not to cause damage to the metal but enough to remove previous seal


make sure (if using a instant gasket as liquid) that there is no oil on the surface off the joining metals


tighten down bolts from middle outwards...if you have a torque wrench and are worried about sheering the bolt then set it to around 8nm i no that's not much but if your not sure it can help to have the setting...finally clean up oil that has previously leaked with de-greaser and then run the engine for a few min to make sure that it has fixed the leakWhy's my car leaking oil and how can I fix it?
if it is on top of the engine, that's the valve covers. you can change them easily. then tighten the bolts down, starting from the middle out to the ends. just make sure you don't over tighten the bolts and break off the head.
knowing what the problem is , that means the problem is 50% solved knowing how to solve the problem, you see where i am going with this.you and your friend is on the right path follow it through...
Well remember how you took it off so you can put it back together but i would tke it to a pro.
It's most likely the valve Cover gasket, just replace it.
its leaking cuz u didnt take care of it, u can try getting a mechanic to fix it(lol). :-p
MAYBE BECAUSE I SHOVED MY BIG JANGLY **** IN THE EXHAUST
There are a lot of places that a car could leak oil from. Some are more likely to develop leaks than others, so if you're troubleshooting it you try to confirm or rule out from the most likely to the least likely. An auto repair manual for your car could help you with this or else someone experienced with fixing cars. Your friend seems to have some experience, so I would follow his suggestion and see if it works. If it doesn't, he probably has another guess where the oil could be leaking from and you'd have to follow up on that. Fixing a car can be frustrating or fun depending on your attitude towards it. Hopefully it saves you some money as compared to taking it in for repair. Good luck.