Leaking oil?
 

Background: I noticed my car was quickly making a number of oil splotches when parking. The oil amounts weren't significant, but the car made a number of splotches none-the-less.

Fast-forward to today: Finally changing the oil and as I was changing the oil filter (which is a PITA by the way thanks to that stupid plastic guard) I noticed that it was hand loose! That is to say, whenever I first gripped the filter, it was already fairly loose! It was also covered in oil! I figure that somehow the filter either came loose or wasn't put on tight in the first place. I've never seen one come loose before like that - I was surprised!

Moral of the story: If you think you're losing a lot of oil due to old gaskets or whatever, check your oil filter - it might be loose!

If you went to one of those 10-minute oil change places, that might be the cause. They're notorious for leaving oil filters barely on, so when you come back they don't have to pull out the filter wrench to get it off and waste precious seconds.

I never go to those places because I like giving the old oil a nice long time to drain thuroughly.

how long was the filter on before you noticed it leaking?

It's always leaked a little since I got the car back in August. Recently (read: past month), I've noticed it getting progressively worse. It wasn't that the car was losing a lot of oil, it was just getting spread all over the place (as oil tends to do).

I replaced the oil today with 20w-50 in the hopes that I can stave off some of the seals leaking with thick oil.

Are you using regular oil or synthetic? Synthetic will tend to leak more. :)

I think the car had synthetic in it, but I put in dino oil. I'm trying to get the car to stop leaking as much as possible. Besides, I feel that synthetic is a waste of money.

Mine leaks some, worth a check as I bought mine back in August Don't know if it could be that. Worth a Shot I guess.