[goatwgn]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

It was kind of the good old days from a technical standpoint. I was a line mechanic at a medium size Pontiac dealer. They sold 30-40 cars a month. I remember distinctly replacing 13 Oil pan gaskets/rear main seals in one week at the dealer. The job paid just over 4 hours and I could do 2 in a day not killing myself. Can you imagine oil leaks like that on a new car today? The Pontiacs were terrible leakers from the 4 bolt valve covers to the cork oil pan gaskets and the rope seals, valley gasket leaks you name it. But it wasn't just Pontiac. Sealing technology has come a long, long way in 50 years. Quality control was really spotty in those days. The Turbo Trans Am that I Pre-delivered and was smoking and missing like crazy. It made it all the way to my dealer with 7 pistons in the engine!! No, I am not making this up. It was a different time.

Sealing technology for the older engines (including our Pontiacs) has also improved. I used the one piece, reusable pan gasket on mine, as well as the graphite rear main seal- no more seepage. I have worked on all makes of cars since the early '80s and one brand of car that still seems to have trouble with leaks and burning oil) is Mitsubishi. You used to be able to tell if a Chrysler product in the '80s, '90s, or '00s had the Mitsubishi engine if you saw oil puffing out of the tailpipe LOL. Chrysler's in house engines were all pretty good designs that didn't tend to burn and leak oil like those.