Being owner of an automobile is beneficial, we most of the time need it to get to work and for most of our daily trips. This crucial portion of our annual budget regularly triggers us complications, being conscious of oil leaking on your car is one of them… In truth, an oil leak is not usually inoffensive and can quickly lead to the breakage of your engine if you don’t discern it. If you are conscious of oil leaking on your Kia Optima, you have come to the right page, we will first support you to uncover the cause of the oil leak and, secondly, we will help you to repair it, if possible.

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Identifying the origin of the oil leaking on your Kia Optima

If you see fluid leaking from under your Kia Optima, the first action to take is to verify all of your levels (power steering, engine oil, brake fluid, coolant) to discover if any of them can fairly quickly be identified as the source of the leak. To limit the risks, it is definitely crucial to verify your levels every 2 weeks to avoid any risk of engine breakage.
In our circumstance we will only be focused on circumstance you notice oil leaking from your Kia Optima, as far as engine oil is concerned, the liquid will be quite viscous and in shades of brown to black and if it is gearbox oil, it will be rather in amber tones and will have a strong unpleasant smell.
It’s not always easy to uncover the cause of the oil that leaks on a Kia Optima because of the room in the engine block, however here are the steps to stick to to uncover the origin of the oil:

  • Discover the point where the oil falls, the spot from which it leaks onto the ground…
  • Go back up the path of the dripping oil to its source, if the blot is too important, don’t hesitate to clean the engine block and drive to be capable of find it easier.
  • To assist you, here is a list of the parts that in most cases bring about oil to leak from a car: the drain plug and its seal; one of your crankcase gaskets; the oil pressure switch; the oil filter; the transmission drain plug; the transmission sealing rings.

If possible, repair the part that caused the oil to leak on your Kia Optima.

Now that you’ve located the cause of the oil leaking, it’s time to get down to business. Naturally, for a while, you’ll be able to add more oil to top up the level, depending on its severity, but you should know that this is not a durable answer and that the leak could become worse at any time. We are likely to present you the repairs that we think you can perform on your own with some expertise, tools and depending to the accessibility that you are going to have on your engine. In any case, you should know that after repairing an oil leak on a Kia Optima, you will have to swap your engine or gearbox oil.

Oil leakage from the drain plug and its seal on Kia Optima

In this scenario, the solution is quite easy, you just have to lift your Kia Optima, if you can totally horizontal, remove your drain plug, drain your engine oil, swap your drain gasket, tighten the plug to the perfect torque and verify the hot engine to make sure the leak has been fixed.

Oil leaking over from the oil filter of my Kia Optima

In the case that your oil leak comes from your oil filter, you will just need to replace it. To make this happen, take a filter wrench, remove the old filter, being sure that the gasket does not stick to the engine, place the new filter and tighten it moderately. Same test, hot check if oil is leaking from your Kia Optima.

Oil leaking from the pressure switch of my Kia Optima

To finish , if it is your pressure switch that is the cause of your leak on your Kia Optima, you can, determined by its accessibility, reach it and swap it very easily. To do this, place a drain tray under the part, disconnect the electrical wire, remove the part, quickly reposition the replacement pressure switch, clean the assembly and do a hot test to validate that you no longer have any oil leaking from your Kia Optima.

For any other type of leak, we advise you to go to your repair shop because the repair will involve too much knowledge and tools to be executed serenely alone.

To find more tips on the Kia Optima, take a look at the Kia Optima category.