I have a 2000 Grand Prix SE.. just replaced the motor at 140k with one that has 30k.. there's a line that runs under the car that is very smashed up.. it can be seen in this image I pulled off of someone's self help page...

It's the one on the bottom of the image, in the right corner that comes down from the engine (but where from) swirls around and goes back up toward the engine (but to where?).. Can anyone tell me what this line is, where it comes from and goes to, and if it (hopefully) has to do with oil? I have about a quart a week leak, and I'm hoping it's this part and I'm hoping it's rather easy to repair.. any help is appreciated. Thank you!

Power steering return line. GM's idea of a 'powersteering cooler'.

Nothing to do with engine oil.

That is your power steering lines, the curved ones going all over the place. Going through a quart of oil a week is bad... put a peice of cardbaord under the car when you park and see where it comes out of in the morning.

I'm guessing it will be oil pan, front seal, or rear main.

Patrick nice to see you made it this way. A quart a week I doubt it's the oil pan.

I see your from 29 stumps. Are you a Marine by chance?

Okay.. so that's not the problem then.. sucks. I was hoping it was that easy. Maybe I should get that fixed anyway, since it probably isn't supposed to be all smashed up.

I'm not a Marine, no.. just live with a couple of them. No, I'm out in the Desert by choice.. probably not too much longer, though. I'm trying to make a move back to the Midwest, where I'm from.

So let me explain what happens with my car. It does great driving in town.. but when you drive about 45+ miles at once, it starts shifting a little hard. I let mom have it to make a long drive in a couple weeks ago, and on the way back it was shifting unbelievably hard. I went to get it, and naturally thought it was my transmission. I changed the filter/fluid, only to find that the fluid was still pink, the filter was almost new, and there was no metal in the pan, which I figured there should be.. Also, when taking off from a stop (usually when a bit more foot is laid on the pedal) it does this... jerkjerkjerkjerk thing.. any ideas? I didn't see how this could be my oil, but when I checked the level, it was about a quart low.. and that would have been from within a week or so. I added some Lucas Stop Leak, to try to slow it down.. and it did... I can get that quart to leak out over the course of about 3 weeks now.. So I guess I have two problems.. an oil leak, and a shifting problem. Any ideas on the uneasy shift? Thanks for everyone's help!

No SES light?

No, Mom said it came on while she was driving it, but I never saw it. The Change Oil soon light was on soon after, but I programmed it off, as the engine was just installed and the oil was fresh...