OK-just looked at the paper they gave me back with the notes, maybe title of this thread is wrong. Is is a "valve cover gasket seeping oil."

Independent shop says there is a slow leak. I changed the oil almost 5,000 miles ago, and the dipstick reads about half, so I don't think it is losing too much oil. I'm no car guy so can anyone tell me how much oil I need to add if the dipstick shows around half?

I looked under the car and there isn't much oil leaking, never have any spots on my driveway so it isn't fast, but you can see where it is leaking....

bottom line, I don't have money to fix this at the moment since i'm a student, so if it isn't leaking fast, then can't I just add a little bit of oil until I do another oil change in 2-3k more miles? I don't see a need to replace it if it is hardly leaking..maybe i'm wrong

 

Best way to measure and add oil is first thing in the morning. Don't start your car and just slowly add oil then check. Keep doing until you're at the top level.

 

The amount of oil from the low mark to the high mark is one quart. So if you are at halfway, add about half a quart. (Check the oil after the car has sat for a while though.)

Just monitor regularly and add oil as needed till you can fix the leak.

 

Oh ok, cool. So if it's half a quart that leaked over a period of 5k miles then it can't be that bad.....thx

 

Heck.....you might have burned newly that much....so it is likely the leak is pretty minor....a seep or a drip....
just monitor the oil level regularly....like at regular gas fillups.

 

When I had my engine out recently, I noticed my valve cover gasket was seeping on the backside. I was in a hurry, and just put it back in with the leak. At some point when I get some time (winter, probably) I'll retorque the valvecover, and if that doesn't clear it up I'll replace the gasket. No big deal. I wouldn't worry about it at all until it starts leaving marks when you park. And then, it's more that I'm fastidious about my driveway than about my car.