Ok so I've owned this Stratus for a year now, and have never noticed oil leakage, or atleast never had to add any oil between changes. After having an accident with it, it sat for 3 months in -30 and colder weather. A couple months ago I decided to fix it and put it back on the road. It was given a fresh oil change and engine flush in the process. Now about a month ago I realized it was starting to leak oil, and lots of it. On an average day of running errands I would lose about 2 liters. The leak is coming from the front of the engine (passengers side of car). I was told by my brother in law that it could only be coming from 3 places, either one of the cam seals or the front crank seal. I have taken off the cover for the cams and it appears to be dry, so I guess it must be the crank seal. I have read posts on the net about these engines having issues with these seals due to play in the crankshaft pushing the seal out. Problem is all these post refer to 2005 and 2006 etc... Stratus with the 2.4L and mine is a 1999 with the 2.4L, so I am not sure if these engines are the same or not, and whether my problem could be the same (crankshaft play) or simply just a dried out and rotted seal. If it is a problem with the play in the crankshaft, then I can imagine there would be more engine damage arising since I have been driving the car this way for the past month. Is that about right? It hasn't ran right dry, but low enough to not get a reading on the dipstick. For the most part I was good at catching it before it went that low. I just want some advice on what to do here. After all, it is a 1999 with 218,000 kms and not worth putting alot of money into it. So far just to put it back on the road after the accident, I've put just over $2000 into it, so if it's going to need an engine now, then I would like to cut my losses now and just get rid of it.

 

It could just be the seals, as i've been working to replace them as they rot out on my '00. Of course, without seeing it (and not having the same engine either), it could be any of the other things you mentioned. Just wanted to chime in that all my gaskets were dried up.

 

I have the same mileage on my 99 and it had the same leak. Replaced the oil sensor in the front passenger side of the engine to fix.