1994 GMC Safari Oil leaked out for no reason. Put more oil in...look under van and oil is leaking like a water fall. Turn Van off oil leak calms to a trickle. Other than the oil water fall the van runs and sounds fine.

valve cover gasket leak

3 possibilities:
1) Leaking (you should see coolant on the ground)
2) Going into your oil (sign of blown head gasket)
3) Going out your exhaust (sign of blown head gasket)
anyway you look at it, it's bad.

The two oil lines connected at the radiator normally are for transmission oil cooling either way there will be two lines one in one out.. If you are sure it's engine oil you can remove the line cap both connecting fittings.BE absolutely sure They are not to the transmission. Oil from the transmission is pink or smells bad when dirty.

Fine the engine is heating and you say leak under van. What is the leak, is it water/ coolent/ oil or what?
is it possible to know where the leak is coming from?

Usually it's the oil cooler lines.

Well blue smoke is almost always oil burning.
It could be rings allowing pressure into the crankcase or valve guides allowing oil to leak into the cylinders. Most of the time a leaking head gasket causes problems with the cooling system.
The engine can burn oil and not show oily spark plugs for a long time.

On most vehicles the transmission information is inbeded the VIN # or vehicle identifation number . Unfortinatly on GMC and CHEVY its not . It is stamped on the passangers side of the transmission at the rear of the oil pan just above the pan gasket you will likely have to clean it off to read it it will be a 9 digit # with letters being in it . The most common transmission for an automatic is the 4L60-E If the forth digit is D thats what it is . As far as the leak goes you need to deturman where its leaking from the pan gasket or the rear oil seal or is it comeing from in front . Transmission do not normanly leak so make sure that its not engine oil you are seeing that is being blowen back witch is much more comon . Transmission fluid is red and smells differant then engine oil and is thinner . Check the oil level on the transmission see if its red and dose it smell burnt if so it will be more black witch is vary bad . Do you have any shifting problems .Also check your engine oil to compare the 2 oils . In a nut shell its your vehicle and your the olny one that actully look at it and looking saves money and blindly replaceing parts costs a lot and rearly fixes the problem

The Chrysler minivan products all had leaking problems. I have had 5 or 6 different Dodge or Plymouth minivans from 88 to 99. How bad is it. The most common thing is Valve cover leaks. Front and rear seals in the engine leak as well as the oil pan gasket. If its leaking a little bit at a time open the hood and look at the front and rear of the engine. Do you see grease and oil that has gone down the sides of the engine? Do you see a lot of grease on the engine with some clean streaks going through it. You may be able to see where its leaking from. If you know someone that knows what their doing have them change the leaky gasket/s. If not you can probably have it repaired for less than buying another van unless other things are seriously wrong with the van.
Hope this helps... Dale

yes a beginner can just follow the top rad. hose to the block use a 10mm socket to take the 2 bolts out. scrape the old gasket away put new gasket and high temp silcone on gasket and install new thermostat.

doesnt sound like the problem to me, check the oil make sure no water is in it, sounds like the head is cracked on the exhaust side and ur water is going out your tailpipe, so in turn would ruin your cat converter and make the truck run raggy

My 1997 safari was doing the same. After being shut off for a short period of time it started as if it was flooded. If I put the accelerator to the floor it would fire up. As well, I had no engine codes to report. I replaced the fuel pressure regulator and everything is great. It was leaking fuel into the engine causing it to act flooded when starting. Once started, the computer system made adjustments for the leaking fuel so the engine ran fine. If you turn the van off and immediately try to start it, it should fire up. (don't give it time to leak extra fuel into the engine)