Having an automobile is fundamental, we most of the time need it to get to our job and for almost all of our daily trips. This essential portion of our annual budget frequently triggers us complications, being aware of oil leaking on your car is one of them… In truth, an oil leak is hardly ever benign and can quickly lead to the breakage of your engine if you don’t realize it. If you are aware of oil leaking on your Nissan Xterra, you have come to the right page, we will first help you to discover the cause of the oil leak and, secondly, we will help you to remedy it, if possible.

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Identifying the origin of the oil leaking on your Nissan Xterra

If you discover fluid leaking from under your Nissan Xterra, the first action to take is to examine all of your levels (power steering, engine oil, brake fluid, coolant) to discover if any of them can promptly be defined as the origin of the leak. To limit the risks, it is really vital to examine your levels every 2 weeks to avoid any risk of engine breakage.
In our case we will only be interested in case you find oil leaking from your Nissan Xterra, 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 discover the cause of the oil that leaks on a Nissan Xterra because of the room in the engine block, however here are the guidelines to adhere to to discover the source of the oil:

  • Locate the point where the oil falls, the region from which it leaks onto the floor…
  • Go back up the path of the dripping oil to its source, if the blot is too important, don’t be reluctant to clean the engine block and drive to be capable of situate it more easily.
  • To guide 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.

When possible, fix the part that caused the oil to leak on your Nissan Xterra.

Now that you’ve found 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, dependant upon its seriousness, but bear in mind that this is not a durable remedy and that the leak could become worse at any time. We are gonna present you the repairs that we think you can carry out on your own with some knowledge, tools and according 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 Nissan Xterra, you will have to change your engine or gearbox oil.

Oil leakage from the drain plug and its seal on Nissan Xterra

In this scenario, the process is fairly simple, you just have to lift your Nissan Xterra, if possible totally horizontal, remove your drain plug, drain your engine oil, change your drain gasket, tighten the plug to the perfect torque and examine the hot engine to make sure the leak has been repaired.

Oil leaking over from the oil filter of my Nissan Xterra

In case that your oil leak comes from your oil filter, you will just need to replace it. To achieve this, take a filter wrench, remove the old filter, being certain that the gasket does not stick to the engine, fit the new filter and tighten it moderately. Same check, hot check if oil is leaking from your Nissan Xterra.

Oil leaking from the pressure switch of my Nissan Xterra

To conclude, if it is your pressure switch that is the cause of your leak on your Nissan Xterra, you can, determined by its ease of access, reach it and change it quickly. To get this done, set 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 check to validate that you no longer have any oil leaking from your Nissan Xterra.

For any other type of leak, we advise you to go to your repair shop because the repair needs too much expertise and tools to be conducted serenely alone.

To discover more tips on the Nissan Xterra, take a look at the Nissan Xterra category.