Does anyone know much about cars?

Bob Scott said:

I see two possibilities.

The oil leak has caused the clutch to slip. I saw this once on an old '50s Jaguar. The Jag looked like my Dad's 2.4 L but this one was a 3 point something. A bad gasket caused oil to slowly leak on the clutch. A temporary "fix" was to engage the clutch with the engine revved up so as to burn off the oil. What the heck! The clutch was toast anyway.

However, I think your problem occurred suddenly, so instead of a bad clutch, you have a broken drive link somewhere. This broken link, whatever it is, is now a piece of metal free to move around inside the drive train, has interfered with the motion of another part, and has punched a hole in either the transmission gear case or the engine block, creating an oil leak. It sounds awfully expensive.

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Yikes, that's kind of scary
I've had so many suggestions of what could be wrong, I'm just hoping that's not the problem--that fix would cost more than the car is worth :/
I still have the slave cylinder ready to put in, and I haven't been able to get anyone to do it yet My friend will be coming to do it soon, I just have to figure out when.
Thanks for the help guys!
Der Strom

@DerStrom - any news on your car problem?

Hi, thanks for asking.

I've pretty much narrowed it down to a seal in the slave cylinder, and most of the people I have talked to agree. It looks like this seal is cracked, which allowed fluid to leak and air to get into the system. If it "blew out" when I pushed in the clutch, the loss of fluid and the air in the lines could cause the cylinder to get stuck in that position, making it impossible to re-engage the transmission. I bought a new cylinder and it is ready to be put in, but I have been away for a while and have not had the chance to replace it. I'm not sure when I'll get to it, but I'll let you know what happens when I do.

Best regards,
Der Strom

Well, I thought I'd resurrect this old thread to let you guys know what's going on....

A couple of weeks ago I finally got around to getting my car up in the air and replacing the slave cylinder. While I was at it, I managed to break the metal hose connecting it to the brake fluid reservoir. I ordered a replacement and got it within about 2 days--another $39 down the drain, but it was worth it. I'll be getting that in tomorrow. Anyway, as I was replacing the slave cylinder, I looked towards the back of the car and noticed something that made me want to hit my head repeatedly on some thing hard. I noticed that the CV axle was entirely disconnected. That meant that the power from the engine wasn't even getting back to the drive wheels. That was my problem all along. I called the guy who did the work on my rear brakes recently, and he told me that he had to disconnect it in order to get where he needed to be. Apparently, when he put it back in, he didn't use the proper tools and didn't tighten the bolts completely. They must have backed out a while later, which would explain why it took a while for the car to "break down". The bolts seem to still be there, so that'll be a 15 minute fix.

Anyway, that's where the whole thing stands at the moment. Just wanted to give an update, in case you're still interested.

Thanks again for all the help!

Regards,
Der Strom

See what happens when someone works on your car? I always try to check their work. Two memorable stories:

1. Muffller install. Car didn't sound right after a new muffler. I took it back and said that the muffler is installed backwards (arrow going the wrong way). They said OK and "fixed it". I looked again and sure enough it was in the same wrong direction. Back the third time and got a more senior level who assured me it would get fixed this time. Turned out that the pipe that was installed as art of the exhaust replacement was defective and was bent improperly from the factory. The original tech was asked about the backwards muffler and he said "It fit better that way".

2. I vaguely remember an issue with my father where the lug nuts on the wheels were not tightened and he lost a wheel. He took lug nuts from the other wheels so he could drive home. I made it a point to use a torque wrench on all bolts that I knew the torque specs for.

I do have a similar story to yours though. I had an antifreeze leak and I thought it was the head gasket. I took the carb off and a lot of stuff only to find that a short small diameter piece of hose had a slit in it. All of that work for something that could have been replaced externally only if I could see it. It was before the days of video inspection cams.

KeepItSimpleStupid said:

I vaguely remember an issue with my father where the lug nuts on the wheels were not tightened and he lost a wheel. He took lug nuts from the other wheels so he could drive home. I made it a point to use a torque wrench on all bolts that I knew the torque specs for.

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Yeah, I've learned my lesson. I once had a similar problem, when I was a kid. My dad replaced a wheel on the family van, and he didn't bother to tighten them down properly. We almost lost a tire on the interstate one day, on our way home. If we had, we almost definitely would have gone off the road and (probably) have been seriously injured, or even killed. It wasn't a very good feeling.....

As for the whole muffler thing, some "mechanics" or "technicians" nowadays are completely clueless. How they ever got a job at a garage in the first place, I'll never know! They're dumber than a box of rocks.

Another story from my childhood involves my 9th-12th grade English teacher. She would often go on hour-long tangents about some idiot driver who cut her off that morning on her way to work, and that sort of thing. She always talked about an "ideal world", where every driver would have to take, as well as their driver's test to get a license, an "idiot test", to make sure they're not complete morons. She would say how this would solve about 99.9% of problems that lead to car accidents. I've always thought that this idea could be put toward so many other things. Riding bicycles, for example, has been a huge one for me lately. I've almost hit idiotic bicyclists in my car when they ride up beside my car and then cut right in front. I guess it could also be applied to everyday people, like so-called "mechanics" and other jobs. There are too many idiots in this world, but I digress.....

As for the whole muffler thing, some "mechanics" or "technicians" nowadays are completely clueless. How they ever got a job at a garage in the first place, I'll never know! They're dumber than a box of rocks.

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I thought that was rather obvious to anyone who has had a bad boss or manager.

The person doing the hiring looks for someone he will be smarter than before he hires anyone. Those who applied that had better work credentials than him never got called in or interviewed because they could be future threat to his job.
Whereas the guys with near zero credentials (just like the guy hiring them) get called in and eventually go to work (they are no threat) without the first clue that the person they are following has no idea what her is doing either.

Thats how your muffler gets put in backwards TWICE!

Always remember: "You can always find a better idiot"

tcm: Thanks for that insight