I am seeing small puddles of oil under our 96 nissan quest?

I had a similar problem after having my oil changed at jiffy lube. The problem was that they hadn't fully tightened the oil filter, so it was leaking oil when the engine was running. They did it to me on two cars. I don't go there anymore.

If you don't see smoke, you're not burning it. If you don't see it under where you park your car, it's not leaking when the car is parked.

I would make sure the water pump gasket is not leaking. If the car is blowing white smoke,i would be looking at a blown head gasket.

Do you see a huge oil puddle under the car after it sits overnight (it would be huge!)? If no then the engine is burning the oil, you don't see smoke because the catalytic converter burns it up.

i may say it came from loose oil drain plug or the oil filter(if it's change). and maybe the technician forgot to torque or put gasket on the plug and tighten the filter.

The cost of this will vary from place to place, but if your doing it yourself then thats going to save you a bit of cost.
From what I've seen an average cost of a second hand oil sump(Pan) was $ 130 - $ 200 USD. This should only take and 1 - 1.5 hours to do.
The cost to have a workshop replace it will depend on hourly rate of the workshop. There are also other cost of replacing the oil and a gasket for the oil pan. Hope this helps, let me know how you get on.

Jason

harden seals and gaskets, they need to be replaced by experianced technician.

Yes a regular certified mechanic should be able to fix any oil leak without to much trouble.Some leaks can be a bit more extensive and costly to repair but on the norm ANY mechanic should be able to fix it..

It's probably the front crank seal or the cam seal. Kinda big job for a novice. The car only has one oil pan. The back one she refered to is for the transmission,if it's automatic. Never saw a oil pan gasket leak on a nissan '96 & up.

Crankshaft oil seals
Camshaft oil seals
Rocker cover gasket
Sump gasket
Power steering Pump
Power steering rack/box
If you cant find the leak give the engine a good wash down , makes it easier to spot the leak.

There likely is a spec for oil pan but unless you are a finatic, you really don't need to know what it is. Simple rule: Don't crank down ******* any fastener. If corners near crank ends have larger fasteners, you can tighten them a bit more than on siderails. Before tightening anything, install all bolts finger tight, to ensure that they are not cross threaded. To avoid warping pan, tighten from the center of the pan, working towards both ends, alternating from side to side as you go. When you are finished, go over it again, using the same amount of force on each bolt. As I said, end bolts can if larger in diameter, be tightened more but be careful not to tighten so much that you will either split or push the gasket out the sides.. Anywhere two gasket ends **** together, I recommend using a sensor -safe dab of silicone. An oil pan is not under any mechanical stress or pressure. I have used this method for many years and NEVER had one leak. If you really need #s, small fasteners get about 12-15in lbs, larger ones about 20.