How to Check for Oil Leaks in an Engine

Video Transcript

"Hi, I’m Dean Donnel for expertvillage.com. Now we’re going to talk about checking for oil leaks. The reason we check for oil leaks is we don’t want to loose the oil from the engine because this could cause engine failure. Engine’s need oil to operate, the reason for this is they need good lubrication to keep them running smoothly. What I suggest is use a white piece of paper or cardboard to put under the car to check for the leak, because this way you can easily find it and see where it’s coming from. If you had an oil leak and it was dripping on black asphalt, you might not see it. The car needs to be running when you do this check because some oil leaks only leak under pressure. I’m going to place the cardboard under the car now. I’m going to start the engine, let the engine run 2 to 3 minutes. Look under the car, how is everything? Do you have a leak? If you do you might not have tighten the drain plug up properly or the filter, check them. We’re good, we don’t have a leak, I’m going to turn off the engine. That’s how we check for an oil leak."