FAT OIL LEAK!!!! No idea from where!?

[Olimee]

Hi guys

Had a bit of a hard session on the clio a couple of days ago, up and down mountain roads etc.

When leaving to go to work the following day I found roughly a liter or two's worth of engine oil on my drive...

I immediately took the car to my local garage after topping up with oil. They said it wasn't clear atall where the oil came from, so they steam cleaned my engine and told me to come back a few days later.


Any ideas guys?? Took the sump guard off, massive pool of oil, but i can't find anything.

The head is completely dry, and no sign of head gasket leak. (no smoke or drop in water level). Had a look myself today and I can't see any signs of oil... this is bazarrr???

Could a seal have leaked if pressure built up after turning the engine off when I took it up and down the mountain??


If you guys have any experience or had similar issues please reply

 

[mitch1503]

i had the same problem mate and mine turned out to be a cracked sump.. couldnt see it for looking at 1st

 

[Addicted]

Perhaps you should go back to the garage, if you've leaked 2litres it should be pretty obvious even if you just stare at it for 30min!

 

[mitch1503]

Perhaps you should go back to the garage, if you've leaked 2litres it should be pretty obvious even if you just stare at it for 30min!

mine was bad but wasnt obvious due to the fact the frigger went everywhere but after it had been parked up a while and i scrubbed the sump and had a look 10mins later you could just see a golden line off where the oil had started 2 seep through

 

[Tin cup]

If there's a bit of the sump gasket gone it might only give way at high revs when the engine is a high pressure

 

[Chrisgti6]

Are you sure you'd lost that much? 2 litres of oil on a driveway would be a HUGE puddle!

 

[Owen92]

Perhaps you should go back to the garage, if you've leaked 2litres it should be pretty obvious even if you just stare at it for 30min!

The more it has leaked, the harder it is to pin point the exact location of the leak.
OP try looking for the oil leak as someone is revving the engine. Work the engine through the rev range slowly.

 

[MartinR]

If it lost 2 litres out of 5 and there is no sign of a leakage point it will be the sump gasket or above. Otherwise it would have dumped the lot on the drive.

 

[Tin cup]

I would look at taking off the sump inspecting it then fit a new sump gasket

 

[Olimee]

If there's a bit of the sump gasket gone it might only give way at high revs when the engine is a high pressure

This would make perfect sense! And would explain why it dumped alot but not all. I should have taken a photo of the oil patch, it covered the double driveway!

The more it has leaked, the harder it is to pin point the exact location of the leak.
OP try looking for the oil leak as someone is revving the engine. Work the engine through the rev range slowly.

Good idea! I'm going to give this a go tomorrow, hopefully something will become obvious. Since it happened the oil level hasn't dropped :/ -i have been driving alot more gingerly though.

I took it back to the garage today, they had a look and still yet to see any new oil..

Cheers for the replies guys!

 

[Tin cup]

Used to happen alot when I had my fiesta rs turbo got a garage to do it, and it still would give way under pressure after the did it over 6 times they said my engine was fooked and I then took to a good rs garage they did it first time

 

[Olimee]

Well guys the worst has happened...

Turns out i blew a hole in the gearbox, the oil was ALL the transmission oil. :'(

Yesterday while driving happily down the motor way, BANG! stick pops out of fifth, put it back in to find an oh-mighty wine... Took it straight to the garage, on the way to the garage the clio developed a misfire!

The two must be linked but I cannot work out how, the garage replaced my plugs (to my freaking expense even though i knew it would do nothing!).

So currently trying to find a new gearbox, leaving the misfire issue for now hoping it's a crank sensor or something.

RIP my 182

 

[Tin cup]

My box went after a month of buying it