OIL In the Air intake

[Frenchman]

Hi Guys,

Had an oil leak on our 2001 1.2 16v Clio and traced it back to the air filter box/intake. I removed the air intake/throttle body house and there was quite a bit of oil in there.

I have mopped it all up and replaced the air filter, but just a bit concerned as to how so much got in there, we have only had the car a few weeks so it was like it when we brought the car. I did notice that the engine oil level was on max, could it just be to much oil put in by last owner, or something else?

Frenchman

 

[Alastair.]

common mate, dont worry about it, 99% will all have a bit of oil in the air box

 

[matty172cup]

as far as i know it just the oil that get chucked up from the bottom of the engine nothing to worry about

 

[Frenchman]

Thanks for the advice guys, I was a bit concerned because there was about 1/2 a litre in there. Do you think over filling with oil could have added to the amount in there?

Frenchman

 

[Frenchman]

Here are a few pics of the oil.

 

[mattjk]

thats a fair bit, does it burn much oil? if not its probably been overfilled in the past sometime

 

[MarcoB]

It will have been overfilled. Mine was overfilled and looked exactly the same.

 

[rosskerr]

Is tht were the throttle body is

 

[Frenchman]

Yes the throttle body sits inside the top of the air intake box which I removed. I think the last owner "topped up" the oil prior to selling and went a bit ott (well it was a woman after all)

Car doesn't burn any oil, no smoke or anything like that, did have a bit of a funny idle but a new set of plugs and coild pack soon fixed that.

Frenchman

 

[cliokiz]

Are there any breathers from the engine connected to the airbox? I don't know anything about the F4 series of engines as i have a MK1 16v, but i know oil breathers from the head can give you a nice amount of oil in the airbox on the F7 engine.

 

[davebem]

Id check the level on the dipstick to make sure its under the max line. Thats way too much, like someone said it looks like its been overfilled or the car may have been on its side or upside down at some point.

 

[Frenchman]

The oil was on max when I bought it, so the last owner must have put too much in. What was strange was that the spark plugs were not done up tight, and a couple of the bolts that retain the intake manifold were very loose.

The car had a cambelt change about 8k ago I have the receipt for this, but I wouldn't think they would have removed the air box for that. I wonder if someone had a bit of a go looking for the oil leak and gave up leaving the bolts half undone, very strange.

The car runs and drives fine, it did have intermitent idle issues but that went away when I replaced the spark plugs, coil pack and air filter. I will change the oil this weekend as I have no idea what type of oil is in there right now.

Will have another inspection to check for oil again at the same time.

cliokiz, there is a breater pipe on the left side of the engine (driver side) this is where the oil came from I think because if you look at the first picture the little well where my finger is, you will see that it is higher up than the rest of the oil to the right, so must have been comming from that side.

I will grab another photo of this pipe when it's light. Who knows how much over filled it was, as I have no idea how long it had been leaking from the air filter box before I got the car.

Frenchman

 

[franx]

^^ the people doing work on your car were expecting you back (more $$)


not tightening the bolts up clearly shows a %(*^ job . if you have this breather , this is where all the excess oil will havecome from as it has been overfilled..

i hope you will go to another place for maintanance because this place seems dodgy

 

[devnet1]

Hi, have you got any pictures from before you took off the air intake/throttle body house, i just want to see how you take them off!

 

[Frenchman]

Hi,

I didn't take any photos before, but you need to remove the breather pipes, ECU connection at the rear, fuel supply cable (push fit connection) 4 bolts on the air intake/throttle body housing, and the 8 or bolts that hold the air intake manifold to the engine.

I used the haynes manual for reference, I didn't remove the airbox from the car completely because disconnecting the cables were a bit of a pain, but I had enough to move it out of the way.

Frenchman

 

[devnet1]

Thanks for the fast reply Frenchman,

Thanks for that, just a quick question, which Haynes manual did you use, I think I have the same car as you, 1.2 16v phase 2 mark 1. So do you have the red manual (June 2001 to 2004) or Blue (1998-2001) I know this is a stupid question but neither seems to cover my car.

 

[Frenchman]

Mine is a dark red colour, more like a maroon 01 - 05 it says on it.

Frenchman

 

[davebem]

Thanks for the fast reply Frenchman,

Thanks for that, just a quick question, which Haynes manual did you use, I think I have the same car as you, 1.2 16v phase 2 mark 1. So do you have the red manual (June 2001 to 2004) or Blue (1998-2001) I know this is a stupid question but neither seems to cover my car.

The mk2ph1 manual doesn't cover the 1.2 16v engine as not many had this engine, for the engine itself you need the 2001-2004 manual..

 

[devnet1]

Just bought the 2001-2004 manual so cheers devebem for telling me which one was right for my car. My problem was exactly the same as frenchman's. (oil in my air filter and car didnt idle very well). But changed the spark plugs and the idle is 90% better.Just need to try and get the oil out from the same place as you had yours. But i still dont know why this happened, My car has been in the family since new and the oil has never been overfilled and the car has not been rolled!!!

 

[Frenchman]

Did you ever find the problem that caused yours? I still have this issue and would like to get it fixed.

Oh I also have a fair bit of mayo under the filler cap now, but it isn't loosing any water so that's a little confusing as well.

Frenchman

 

[garethsplace]

Think most have oil in I would like to know how to remove my intake

 

[glowworm105]

Does the car do alot of short journeys ? Sometimes the mayo can be when the car is only used for shorter journeys which means it never gets to proper running temp if you have a search on google theres info about it i used to have the same problem which is why i no

 

[Fred@BTM]

the mayo thing - normal
the oil in the airbox - normal

its a s**t engine