A patch on the carpark floor, a burning smell after a drive, or a level that keeps dropping between services. We work out which seal or gasket is letting go, show you the wet spot, then quote before anything gets opened.
Oil leaks announce themselves in three ways. Two of them are easy to ignore for months, and one of them is not.
You reverse out and there it is, a dark stain or a rainbow sheen where the engine sits. Size matters less than colour and whether it is growing. A spot that has looked the same for a year is a different conversation from one that spreads every week.
Send us a photo of the patch → 02Oil landing on a hot exhaust or manifold burns off before it ever reaches the floor, so there is nothing to see and plenty to smell. Sometimes a wisp of smoke from under the bonnet while you sit at the lights. That one is closer to urgent than a clean drip is.
Tell us about the smell → 03You top up, and a few weeks later the dipstick reads low again with nothing on the floor to show for it. Either the oil is leaking out somewhere it burns off, or the engine is using it internally. Those two lead to very different repairs.
Book an oil check →Oil runs before it drips. A gasket weeping at the top of the engine sends oil down the back of the block, along the bellhousing, and off the lowest point it can reach, which is often nowhere near the part that let it go. Quote from the puddle and you end up replacing a good gasket while the real one keeps leaking.
So we do it the slow way. Confirm the car is genuinely losing oil, degrease the whole area so old film stops confusing things, then put it back on the ramp with the engine warm, because most seals only weep once the oil is hot and thin. Where the source still is not obvious, UV dye goes into the oil, the car goes out for a drive, and the lamp shows the exact seam it came from.
Only then does anyone give you a figure, and the quote comes with a photo of the wet spot. Some of these jobs are genuinely small. A sump plug washer or a loose filter takes minutes. Others mean opening the engine, and bigger work runs through our engine and gearbox bay in the same unit.
Where the patch lands, what colour it is, how fast it grows, and whether an oil light has ever come on.
Level read and recorded. Some cars are low because nobody topped them up, not because anything is leaking.
An engine coated in old oil film tells you nothing. It gets cleaned so the live leak has somewhere to show itself.
Hot oil is thin oil, and that is when a tired seal gives itself away. Inspecting a cold engine is how leaks get missed.
Dye into the oil, a short drive, then a UV lamp. It marks the seam the oil leaves from rather than the point it drips off.
You see the wet spot before you decide anything. Nothing gets opened up on a maybe.
Before booking anything, look at what is actually on the floor. Clear water under the front passenger side on a hot day is aircon condensation and it is meant to be there. The rest are worth a photo. Our longer guide on reading an oil patch under your car works through the same job at home.
Light amber when it is fresh, brown to black once it has mileage on it, and slippery rather than watery. Usually lands under the front or middle of the car. This is the one that needs a source found rather than a guess.
Thinner than engine oil, red or reddish brown, and it smells different. Tends to show up further back, around the bellhousing or under the steering rack. Same diagnosis method, different parts and a different urgency.
Green, orange or pink, watery, and it dries to a sticky film with a sweet smell. Not an oil leak at all. In Singapore traffic it is the one you least want to leave, because losing coolant gets expensive quickly.
Rubber and cork gaskets harden as they age, and our heat gets them there faster. Add a lot of short stop-start trips where the engine bay sits hot in traffic with barely any airflow, and seals here have a harder life than the same seals in a cooler country. Four sources cover most of what comes through the door.
The common one, and the one most likely to drip onto a hot manifold and give you that burning smell with nothing on the floor. It sits on top of the engine, so oil from here runs down the back of the block before it lands anywhere useful.
The lowest point of the engine, so this one shows up as a proper drip on your lot. Sometimes it is only a tired sump plug washer, or a plug that was overtightened at a service somewhere else and has started to weep.
These sit where the shafts leave the engine, and they harden with age and heat like everything else. A rear main seal is the awkward one, because reaching it usually means the gearbox comes off, which is why it costs what it costs.
Rubber lines, o-rings and the housing seal all give up under heat. This one looks alarming because the oil ends up across half the underside, and it is often one of the cheaper repairs on the list.
There is no single answer, but there is a clear line. It comes down to how fast you are losing oil and where the oil is landing.
If you are in the second column, mention it at your next service and we will look while the car is already up on the ramp. What we would not do is leave a leak unwatched for a year. Oil that drops low enough to starve the bearings turns a gasket job into an engine job, and oil soaking a drive belt or a rubber bush ruins parts that were perfectly fine. If you want the longer version, it is spread across our engine guides.
Ubi, Bedok, Eunos and Paya Lebar are all a short drive. Send a photo of the patch on WhatsApp first and we will tell you whether it wants looking at this week or at your next service.
It depends on how fast you are losing oil and where the oil lands. A few small spots that have not changed in months, with the dipstick holding steady between services, is not an emergency. Stop and call us if an oil pressure or oil level light comes on, if you smell burning or see smoke from under the bonnet, or if you are topping up more than once a month. An engine that runs low on oil does not warn you twice.
Oil runs downhill before it drips, so the puddle rarely sits under the seal that let it go. We degrease the whole area first so old film stops confusing the picture, then check the engine warm and on the ramp, since most seals only weep once the oil is hot. If the source still is not obvious, UV dye goes into the oil, the car goes out for a drive, and a UV lamp shows the exact seam it is leaving from. You get a photo of that wet spot before anyone quotes you.
Colour and feel. Engine oil is amber when fresh and brown to black once it has mileage on it, and it feels slippery. Gearbox and power steering fluid is thinner and red or reddish brown. Coolant is green, orange or pink, watery, and dries to a sticky film with a sweet smell. Clear water under the front passenger side on a hot day is aircon condensation and it is supposed to be there. Slide a sheet of cardboard under the car overnight if you want a clean sample to photograph. There is more detail in our guide on what an oil patch under your car means.
Heat hardens rubber and cork gaskets faster than a cooler climate does, and a lot of local driving is short stop-start trips where the engine bay sits hot in traffic with little airflow. Cars here also live on flat concrete carparks, so you actually see the patch. The same leak on a gravel driveway would go unnoticed for years.
On an older car with a small, stable leak, topping up is a fair call, and we will say so rather than sell you a repair you do not need. What topping up does not do is keep the leak small forever. Oil soaking a drive belt or a suspension bush ruins parts that were fine, and a seal that weeps today fails properly at some point. Find the source, get the figure, then decide with something real in front of you.
It depends entirely on which seal is leaking, and anyone quoting you before they have found the source is guessing. A sump plug washer or an oil filter housing seal sits at the small end. A valve cover gasket is a middling job. A rear main seal usually means dropping the gearbox out, which is why it lands where it lands. We find the source first, send you a written quote with the photo attached, and you decide from there.
Diagnostics, repairs and overhauls. We trace the real fault before quoting major work.
Learn more →Full general servicing at recommended intervals. Plain-English report every visit.
Learn more →Pads, discs, struts and bushings. Full inspection and honest replacement only when needed.
Learn more →Knocking over humps, a floaty ride or uneven tyre wear. Checked on the lift and on a road test.
Learn more →Cooling coil inspection, refrigerant pressure and air handling. Cold air, the right way.
Learn more →Sensors, relays and ECU faults. We trace them end to end with live data.
Learn more →Buying used? You get the verdict before you commit.
Learn more →24/7 islandwide towing for breakdowns and accidents. Direct line to a real driver.
Learn more →
Identify the fluid by colour, work out roughly where it came from, and judge how urgent it really is.
What a top and a full overhaul actually involve, what to rule out first, and when not to spend a cent.
Why red fluid on your floor is a different job, real intervals, and straight advice on CVTs.
When to keep driving, when to pull over, what diagnosis involves, and the inspection trap to avoid.
What inspectors look at, the failures that catch drivers out, and why a visible leak is worth sorting first.