Oil leak

[James87]

My 2014 Chevy Sonic 1.8 engine has a small oil leak that drips from under the oil filter onto the exhaust manifold maybe a couple of drops that only notice because the oil was hitting the exhaust manifold and smoke was coming up because it was hitting the hot manifold. After the engine gets hot it normally goes away I was thinking maybe the oil engine oil cooler but I also saw online that it could be just a loose bolt on the cooler making a small leak because my oil level is still at normal range and even after the month and a half it's been leaking. Just wondering if it's the gaskets to the cooler or just maybe something loose because my oil pressure is good and it is not overheating and no mixing of oil with coolant. Need help because either way to get to it you have to take out the whole exhaust manifold and it's a lot so just want to know if there's an easier way to check the bolts or is that even the issue?

 

[ohio_grad_06]

I’m a bit late here but seems like we had to have the mechanic do a valve cover on our 16 1.8. If I recall I think the issue was that the valve cover was plastic and to get it to seal right you needed the whole valve cover not just the gasket.

One complaint I have on the Sonic is the amount of plastic in the engine parts. I also use high mileage 5w30 oil in our car which it seems to run fine on. Got about 152,000 now I think. Just got a cat code that we spent about 2k trying to fix without replacing the cat which is supposed to be about 900 more. But we live in an area where they don’t do emissions testing so have considered leaving it that way as well.

 

[wildgeese2076]

I have 14 Sonic. 1.8 and just had same issue, but mine was really bad.. The o rings and oil cooler gasket were shot. I replaced the entire assembly because I have ocd when it comes to car repairs. No more smoking engine.