[vzSvx]

Hi guys, I've been reading all these posts tonight and I was dealing with this same oil leak problem for more than 5 months. I just couldn't find a mechanic who could work with this car and I didn't have the money for it. Not only I had the oil leak problem with it, my dash board lights (I call them dummy lights) were on all the time and I was always nervous driving it thinking my car would die on me anytime soon. I just replaced the battery and alternator last Feb 2004 and I wondered why those lights were on all the time and somehow my car never gone out of power. I'm a woman driver who doesn't know much about fixing cars nor diagnosing car problems. All I know is, I just love driving this darn high maintenance, money-pit car!

For 5 months I've been adding motor oil from 1 to 2 quarts a week and it was becoming too expensive because I use the Mobil One 10W 30. I kept replacing the cardboard underneath my car... talking about greasy garage floor! Anyway, I've been to a couple of auto shops already and turned me down because they've never worked with this kind of an engine before. I found one on my way to work. It says "Japanese Car Specialist". I gave it a try and there he was, a mechanic who's familiar with this engine. He looked at it and at the end of the day gave me an estimate of $900 parts and labor. I thought it would have been more than that. The next day I visited my car at lunch time and saw him took the right side engine cover off. That's where the leak was coming from. Also he found that my alternator was over charging my battery, that explained why all the dummy lights were on all the time while I was driving. It could have damaged my battery if I waited longer driving that way. He also showed me a bad water pump and a bad timing belt . So these are the things he replaced: The timing belt, cam shaft seals, right valve cover gasket, water pump and gasket, thermostat and coolant. He got my alternator rebuilt and put back in, because we couldn't find any alternator for this car available that same day. When all was done, we took a spin around the block. It was doing fine, then, my radiator was busted. It was leaking anti-freeze. I had to leave my car for another day. Since he couldn't find a radiator for my car, he fixed it for free, but he cannot guarantee how long it will last. So I better start shopping around. My new mechanic's problem is finding the parts for this car...it is somehow impossible. They're never available right away, they have to be ordered. He also said it is a little to tight under the hood. No space is wasted, it's so packed!

Now my baby is finally home after that whole week's ordeal, and I have a big hole in my bank account. Tomorrow, I will finally clean up the grease on my garage floor. No more messy cardboards and newspapers! I just thought of sharing this with you. I feel some relief now, though it did hurt my pocket book.