For the past couple weeks I noticed my start-up sounded kind of rough. Almost similar to a grinding of a gear on the tranny. I checked my dip-stick and noticed I hardly had any oil left in there so I went home from work and filled up a quarter of a quart of oil. A few days later I heard the same noise and noticed i was low on oil again so i filled up. Till now i thought I was just burning off a lot but i finally had a friend take a look and realized that there's oil leaking in the back of the engine right between the block and valve cover.

any idea on how serious of an issue this is? money wise...costly?

 

first what kind of noise are you talking about? metal to metal grinding? Is the noise only noticeble at start up in the morning? Once in a while I heard a loud grinding sound when I first start up in the morning. And I think a lot of members on here have the same problem too. It could be a starter issue that people are talking about. As far as the leaking, what do you mean between the block and valve cover? Do you mean between the head and the valve cover? If that is the problem then I would look into the valve cover gasket to see if it needs to be replaced.

 

the startup noise, i would not be so concerned about.

the oil leak however, either find out on your own what causes the leak or have a mechanic find out.

it can be the valve cover gasket or head gasket, which is a bigger issue.

are you the first owner of the car?

 

Your startup noise could also be the timing chain tensioner, maybe because of the low oil level, maybe coincidence.
Does it sound like a card in a bicycle wheel?

Btw.. it takes a full quart (1 bottle) to go from the lowest X to the highest X on the dip stick.

How low was the oil on the dip stick?
Read your manual for oil level reading instructions.

Valve cover gasket is easy to replace.
Check the mating surface for damage, scratches, etc.
(if that is where the oil is coming out).