FAO Benr Yozza...... :(

[Frasers Cup]

I need your advice guys on my 172 cup. I dont know if you saw my post a while back when my sump plug just "fell out" of my engine on its own accord but my car is now developing some more engine related problems.

Ive noticed it is still using a fair bit of oil and its covered just over 31k miles from new. However I opened the bonnet yesterday to find traces of oil under the plenum at the back and round the seals under the plenum round the block. These have just appeared as I used autoglym engine degreaser and the engine was gleaming.

Could the oil pouring out of the engine while it was running have damaged something internally when it was running? (As soon as I noticed smoke I pulled over, switched the engine off, and left it there emptying itself of the rest of its vital fluids).

My dad thinks a oil breather pipe may be blocked which my be causing the oil to blow out of the seals. I took it back to renault 2day and I've booked it in to get seen next wed as its still under warranty. They think it is the oil seals round the top of the engine.

However I dont feel very confident in their abilites in dismantling an engine since they couldnt tighten up a simple sump plug properly during its last service.

Any ideas and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Fraser

 

[BenR]

Its common for the cam cover and breather baffle to leak so i doubt its related to you dropping your oil.

There is only one breather pipe comming out of the back so it will be easy to check if its blocked, but i doubt it is as were not running mineral oils anymore.

got any pics?

 

[Frasers Cup]

I just went out there to take a couple ben hope your impressed! Anyway this incident has really soured my experience with my once beloved car. Im now thinking about selling..

Here are two pics of the engine and two of my car with the best and worst bits!

 

[Frasers Cup]

Oh and they asked me why I had gone underneath my own car to undo the sump plug and therefore starve it of oil when driving it..... Wouldnt admit responsibility for it even though they were the last ppl to replace the sump plug. Dealers make me mad sometimes...

 

[BenR]

Thats the cam cover yes, common problem.

It doesnt look 'fresh' fresh though, lots of grit and dust.

As for where your using oil, its hard to say.......if its physically leaking and you can notice it using oil, there will be a large mess in the area its leaking.

How much oil and how often?

 

[Frasers Cup]

Well it was in when the sump plug fell out just over a month ago, was topped up fully with new oil and its down by about 1/4-1/3. I'll have a more accurate check 2moro though. Im now totally paranoid when driving my car now, looking out the back window for more dreaded blue smoke! Kinda ruined the ownership experience for me. What do you think I should do?

Replacement for it b4 the warranty runs out and what car would you suggest to replace it? Or should it keep it and wait for it warranty to run out? Was thinking about a used mk2 elise or 350z

 

[Peperami]

Lol, if you have the option to id get a 350z anyways mate!

 

[rory182]

Fraser very common indeed, been sorted on mine too.

Arnold Shark at their best eh

no danger I'd let them do the fault finding, they can do the repair once its identified and has been pointed out to them but no way would i let them look for it.

 

[Frasers Cup]

Well 16-18k should get me an early uk car with not too many miles....

 

[Frasers Cup]

Fraser very common indeed, been sorted on mine too.

Arnold Shark at their best eh

Yeah i just dont want to constantly worry about the james bond smoke screen out the back though. And if the engine did go from oil starvation, do you think renault would have payed out? I doubt it....

 

[BenR]

Well it was in when the sump plug fell out just over a month ago, was topped up fully with new oil and its down by about 1/4-1/3. I'll have a more accurate check 2moro though. Im now totally paranoid when driving my car now, looking out the back window for more dreaded blue smoke! Kinda ruined the ownership experience for me. What do you think I should do?

Replacement for it b4 the warranty runs out and what car would you suggest to replace it? Or should it keep it and wait for it warranty to run out? Was thinking about a used mk2 elise or 350z

If you lost all your oil, then filled it up to the max mark......when you started it back up there would be a portion of the full sump volume used to fill the oil galleys and oil filter etc etc. That is IF everything did drain out whilst you waited.

350 could be a nice car, totally depends what you want really. Dont think an elise would make a great day to day car in the grand scheme of things. I'm leaning towards comfy on all my car choices now, where i used to drive a caterham daily in HK and sit exhasut level in traffic jams in the baking 40 deg heat.....hardcore.....

 

[rory182]

how low has the oil gone exactly? u say 1/4 - 1/3 so thats hardly starvation i'd get the problem addressed and not worry too much TBH.

But you've been looking to move onto something new for a while, maybe this is the nail in the coffin for the cup?

 

[Frasers Cup]

If you lost all your oil, then filled it up to the max mark......when you started it back up there would be a portion of the full sump volume used to fill the oil galleys and oil filter etc etc. That is IF everything did drain out whilst you waited.

350 could be a nice car, totally depends what you want really. Dont think an elise would make a great day to day car in the grand scheme of things. I'm leaning towards comfy on all my car choices now, where i used to drive a caterham daily in HK and sit exhasut level in traffic jams in the baking 40 deg heat.....hardcore.....

Yeah i sat there watching it with the engine off, draining around 1-2 litres of oil from its innards... Quite emotional really... Not sure whether I should keep it though....

Caterham in rush hour traffic? Thats crazy.... How we suffer for our love of cars....

Thanks for your help though everyone. Much appreciated.... I'll let you know how the renault monkeys do when the car comes back...

Cheers

Fraser

 

[Frasers Cup]

how low has the oil gone exactly? u say 1/4 - 1/3 so thats hardly starvation i'd get the problem addressed and not worry too much TBH.

But you've been looking to move onto something new for a while, maybe this is the nail in the coffin for the cup?

Nah I was worried about the starvation when the sump plug fell out around a month ago. Its just using a bit of oil at the mo which is a pain in the balls. But my car came out with a dented up bonnet which the guy denied he did also so Im slightly aprehensive this time around.... On top of them not tightening a simple sump plug back up....

Anyway they bent it, they mend it.....

Im getting more and more tempted by something quicker and rwd.....

Cheers

Fraser

 

[Chris_H]

"Hullo watchdog, theres some fuds at a ren garage I'd like to tell ye aboot"

Works every time, that'll get the dent sorted.

But yeah bin the POS clio and get a decent motor. The clios fall apart cos they were never built properly, the dealerships are a fecking joke and so on.

Also ben is a former HK ninja who used to pm me his street racing stories, high stakes and all that, those were the days eh Ben! Still got the 14:1 CR golf pics mofo!

 

[kartman]

ninjas are japanese.

 

[Chris_H]

well bens english if we want to get arsey about it.

 

[BenR]

I'm actuall Chinglish and the golf was 16:1 and promptly blew its tinfoil (no joke) headgasket in about 400 miles.

Wasnt me doing it, but i found it facinating, especially how well he cut the gasket out of kitchen foil......those copper gasket makers need to seriously reconsider their techniques.

And yes, high stake racing....does it get any better..........blow clutch up last corner........hurl on and win, or loose far too much money. Luckily the win paid for a stupid price AP clutch....and a beer.

 

[Chris_H]

yeah tinfoils fecking tricky to utilise, like I said it would have been better wrapped around a ceral box former.

 

[BenR]

i'll inform him of that, good idea.

But i think he has a 20v turbo POS in there now.

 

[MATT BLACK]

Check to see if the breather casing at the top of the engine is cracked - sometimes the bolts holding the rocker cover on / oilbreather casing can come loose and cause that fault