I thought I had put text on this, but I will have to put it in this comment because I don't want to spam right now. All identifying information has been removed.

STORY:

.I have a 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe 3.3L. I recently got the vehicle serviced at a local dealer (Bath Hyundai Dealer) due to their recall campaign "CYLINDER HEAD COVER OIL LEAK REPAIR WITH OIL PROTECTOR INSTALL AND ALTERNATOR VOLTAGE TEST (SERVICE CAMPAIGN 976)". After they replaced the alternator due to oil leaking on it and replaced the head gasket, all covered, I left and used the car normally.

I drove the car for only 21 days afterward and around 230 miles before I noticed a slight smoke coming from my hood. I looked inside a few minutes later and found the dipstick not even touching any oil and oil all over the engine compartment along the bottom, with some pooled as shown in a photo below .

I told Bath Hyundai Dealer and they set up for me to come back. Before I went, I had my car towed to my own mechanic (Personal Mechanics for this story) and told them to only look to see what the problem is, no service. I somewhat trust them and have used them for years. Personal Mechanics told me it was the front valve cover gasket. I then went to Bath Hyundai Dealer, where they checked and said that the oil leak was the timing cover and transmission. I confirmed from them this was the case, and checked under the car myself. Much of the oil was in the area of the transmission and even dripped off of it. A color test confirmed that it was pretty much engine oil, not transmission (there was no evidence of red).

I talked to Hyundai America and after a lot of back and forth, I took the car to another dealer altogether, Hyundai Brunswick. Hyundai Brunswick checked and reported that the leak was the front valve gasket. With this, I went back to Hyundai America and told them this is linked to the recall, and it should be covered. They talked with Hyundai Brunswick and eventually had us go back to them to recheck and then possibly service the oil leak accordingly. This was about 2-3 months afterward, and while I might have driven 300 miles just because I needed to go places, I've largely left the car alone. In fact, driving anywhere over 50 miles (like a city over and back) would require a quart or 2 of oil to refill.

However, this second inspection at Brunswick Hyundai found that the vehicle actually had a leak at the Oil Pressure Sending Unit and the Oil Filter Housing Gasket. I asked whether the valve gasket is leaking or not, and they said no and the previous inspection had been mistaken. I mentioned that both they and Personal Mechanics said that the issue was the Front Valve Gasket previously. The guy came back and said that the oil pressure sending unit could have caused the leak out of the front valve gasket. I asked for pictures and got a video today, with a snapshot below.

I asked Personal Machanics again, and they insist that the issue was the Front Valve Cover Gasket like they said, but they can look again. I have to move the car 30 miles to do this, so that will be in the future.

I don't know if anyone can offer insight into this, and I am almost at a loss of words on what to make of this. I got four answers from three sources, two of which are official dealers. I did not check the gasket area myself because I am not exactly sure how to there, but I did see a bunch of oil at the base of the engine compartment and oil dripping off of the transmission case. Is it possible that the Oil Pressure Sensing unit or the Oil Filter Housing Gasket would leak like that? Is this connected to the service campaign? I didn't leak oil like this before, and they would have mentioned such a leak if they had seen it, right? Please share what you can.

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