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Hi, I am very new to cars. I bought my first ever car last month and recently I checked the oil and realized that I need an oil change. So I went to walmart, bought the necessary oil and oil filter and ramps to change it on my own. Only to realize that I may not have the right tools to open the valve. I had a 16mm open end wrench and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the valve opened. I even tried hammering as suggested by some youtubers. No luck. What can I do? Also, there is a surprising amount of oil leaking from the bottom of the oil pan. Whats the deal with the leak? When I drive I don't see any drops of oil on my driveway. Any idea and suggestion to fix?

My car started smoking from the catalytic converter which smelled like oil was dripping onto it and smoking from back of the engine so I figured my valve cover gasket needed to be replaced I took everything off put the new gasket on and started to tighten the valve cover back to the cylinder head while I was tightening it I heard a crack noise before I could even get the screw tight onto the cover and block sounded as if the plastic of the cover was cracking or something after I had put everything back together and started it up to see how it sounded there was a clicking noise comping from the left side of the engine sounding under the valve cover every couple seconds cut the car off went in the house a couple hours later came back outside and all my oil was under my car, was the cracking sound something else possible cracking in the block or maybe I put something on wrong a friend was telling me it could be my oil pan or the gasket to the oil pan I’m hoping not and it’s just something minor on my part I forgot to do I know this is pretty long but if anyone know anything that it could possibly be that I might have done wrong plz let me know I have a trip to NY on the 30th end need to get this fixed ASAP thanks.!!

I have a 99 Grand Am SE with 186K miles on it. It has had its share of problems within the past 6 months. To call it an oil "leak" would be an understatement. The oil is literally dropping right out of the bottom. I have to carry a quart of oil in my car and top it off a bit to get the "low oil" light to come off. The car will drive about 20 miles before the "low oil" light comes on again. I have to refill the oil every time i park and restart the car. A little history: For the 6 years or so, I'm pretty sure I had a head gasket or lower intake valve leak. These engines are known for this. But I was able to easily manage this. This would cause the coolant to slowly leak, and every month I would top off the reservoir. The oil would leak/burn too, but not much - I'd use just a quart in between oil changes. Then within the past couple years, it became progressively worse. The coolant began to leak faster, perhaps weekly, and the car would tend to overheat in the summer - so I had to run the heat in the summer to keep the thermostat level. In the winter, with the heat already running, the engine runs too cool and thermostat never reaches 200 degrees. At one point this winter, my oil was so thick and yellow sludge from not warming up enough. I am probably going to buy a new car at this point, I think it's done. Just wondering what the problem is or if I could plug up the hole somehow at home.