My 98 Dodge Caravan has a bad oil leak?

I can't afford the repair right now, which would be around $1,500, but the leak got worse. The past week, I had to add almost 3 quarts of oil! It is almost due for another oil change, but my husband says because most of the old oil leaked out, I don't need one. He said to just buy some oil leak stop by Lucas and add that, and it should be fine. I know eventually I'm going to have to either find the money for the repair or get a different car, but for now, should I get the oil change and add the Lucas oil leak stop or forgo the oil change?My 98 Dodge Caravan has a bad oil leak?
you probably do need the filter changed at the very least on that one ,but for now i wouldn't add the lucas to it,it wont help with the leak and just keep it full of oil until you can get it repaired,is it the rear main seal that's leaking or something else, because 1500 bucks is a lot to pay to get any oil leak repaired,good luck.My 98 Dodge Caravan has a bad oil leak?
your welcome,and still 1500 bucks is high for replacing just that one seal,it might be time to check in to getting another engine for that one,were all facing money problems right so don't feel left out on this part,do the best you can,and the rest will follow,good luck. Report Abuse

Yeah for now Lucas stop leak will slow it down it might take more then one treatment. Lucas products are pretty good though. I have a massive oil leak in my 1998 dodge caravan too and it did slow it down. $1500.00 is a pretty big bill too have a leak fixed unless it's a rear main seal if not when your ready to get it fixed you might to go around to a few shops. Also when you get your oil changed you might want to consider a little thicker oil then you usaully use.
I can't think of anything that would cause oil to leak out short of a hole in the block that would cost $1500. Forget the oil change, your husband is right about that. You can pour the stop leak in, it will not do much, if anything at all. I would repost the question listing ACCURATELY what the mechanic told you needed doing for $1500.
I agree with dodge man, you should at least change the oil filter, sure you are cycling the oil when adding more oil but the old oil's dirt is still building up in the filter, you can use lucas or Marvel miracle oil or some type of other oil stop leak but they usually cause your gaskets and seals to swell and it is a minor band-aid for the main problem, you will still have some type of leak but eventually those gaskets and seals that you added the stop leak. will fail and you will have more leaks and have more repair work needed to the engine. And $1500.00 sounds like a complete engine reseal or cylinder heads replacement due to your valve guides have dropped from overheating and popped the guide seals out of place.
I think Dodge Man is totally right and yes 1500 bucks makes it sound like a whole engine tear down job.I'd be checking to see where exactly this leak is more then likely its from the oil pan seal but it could be another seal too.





Stop leak can work at times but I'd find that just being sure you do a full oil filter change and by adding Lucas to the oil will help a lot but over time it can even help more just be sure to keep an eye on the oil when the engine is cold and be careful not to over full it.What I do is keep adding a tiny bit of Lucas when adding oil later.








Hope that helps and best of luck.By the way you might just want to do as I have just add a few real thick big drops of Lucas with some oil before trying to change the oil etc.
i don't think oil leak stop will work now. the leak sounds really bad so the only choice you have is to repair it. if you think your car is worth the money, just go for it. your husband could try to do it himself but that would depend on him. that is what i have been doing for the last moths because mechanics are just to expensive. parts for cars aren't that bad in price but labor really kills your wallet. you know what else you could do. you could almost get a new engine and installed for that price. that would be better than just invest all that money just to stop a leak and just to find out that five moths later you'll need a new engine. do a little research and try to find another engine with fewer miles in it. if you can't find one well look for a brand new engine. they are not really that expensive. one time they wanted charge me 1500 to repair the transmission for my impala 00. it was just to much. i went to on the look for one and found it for 600, i bought some tools and there i was under my car. the total came out to almost 700 but i did my self and i got a transmission with 40,000 miles in it. people don't realize how much money they can save going to pick and pulls where they sale used and ORIGINAL auto parts and a lot cheaper. latest job in my car was the replacement of the flywheel and torque converter. i spent about 200 dollars. the torque converter new though but a used original flywheel for 30 dollars. a really bad imitation of the flywheel was 90 dollars at the auto parts store. sorry for all my story but as i said, new engine with fewer miles for your car will be a better investment if you really want to repair it.