Oil Leak On The Front Of The Block

[skanny 0]

Guys,

 

About 60 miles ago one of the rocker cover bolts vibrated loose and allowed oil to spill down the BACK of the block and onto the exhaust, Simply nipped it up and wiped away what excess i could easily get to.

 

My car then went in for mot and the guy who tested it mentioned an oil leak, i said i knew about it and it was nothing to bother about as it was just seepage from the rocker gasket when the bolt was half way out, he didn't comment any more on it.

 

I got the car home and i noticed a fef oil drips on the garage floor.

 

As i knew what the cause of the excess oil on the block was i didnt pay too much attention.

 

I was getting the car ready for the trip to the kit car show at stoneleigh and i checked the oil and it was on minimum so i chucked half a litre in and it was all ok.

 

I set off to the show and then i rechecked the level at the show when the car was cold and it was back to minimum again so its used half a liter in 60 miles!

 

I had a good look round the engine and there are drops forming on the bottom of the sump and some of the pockets on the front of the block near the filter and under the oil pressure switch or the oil temp sensor (at least thats what i think it is just to the side and above a bit from the filter) are full of oil as are the dents in the castings on the front offside lower wishbone arm!

 

Its been chucking a fair bit out from somewhere, i noticed that the big pipe that comes off the bottom of the filler canister that heads down the block and has a big curve in it where it heads toward the radiator is soaking with oil too, im hoping its split and its runing out of this tube and then blowing with the wind back onto the front of the block - does that sound feasable?

 

Are there any pipes that are prone to splitting / perrishing?

It looks a bit of a job to get that pipe off as its all nestled under the inlet plenum, how easy is it to remove?

Is that big pipe part of a breather system and hence can have oily air blowing back up it then running back down the inside of the pipe and out the crak / split?

 

Or am i barking up the wrong tree entirely?

 

Thankfully i had the forethought to take the remaining half a litre of oil with me to the show so i threw it in before i left to come home!

[welshpug 1,657]

you have an oil pressure switch and an oil pressure gauge sender next to each other on the block, the big pipe is the oil filler pipe from the block to the bottom of the filler pot, also part of the breather system, there's a smaller one that's just a breather too.

[skanny 0]

Thanks for ID'ing the relevant bits.

 

Juse out of interest the car at idle now sits about 1400-1500rpm and it never used to, it used to cold idle about 12 then drop down a bit once warm.

 

Is it possible that these 2 problems are connected?

[richsmells 2]

The filler pipe often splits. It's fitted with a jubilee clip onto the block. Mine's starting to go around the join. Easy to access from beneath.

 

Miles or BakerBM do supply spares.

 

Do you have a remote oil cooler? Check the pipes and connections if so.

[welshpug 1,657]

yes, its quite possible that the idle issues are linked as its a sealed breather system, if there'd a leak air gets into the inlet through the breathers unmetered by the AFM.

[skanny 0]

yes, its quite possible that the idle issues are linked as its a sealed breather system, if there'd a leak air gets into the inlet through the breathers unmetered by the AFM.

 

Right im liking the thought of killing 2 birds with one stone at the moement!

 

Is it a case of take off the throttle body and all breather pipes and the SAD unit thing, check for leaks /splits etc, clean the inside of the throttle body and butterfly so it closes agains a clean seat and re assemble and see how things go?

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

The Low Oil Warning light can seap oil, Had this a few times and isn;t the best thing to change

[skanny 0]

The Low Oil Warning light can seap oil, Had this a few times and isn;t the best thing to change

 

Thanks for the tip Miles which one or where is the oil warning light switch?

[lagonda 42]

There are two senders on the front face of the block, near the alternator. The nearest one to the alternator is the low oil pressure warning light sensor...this lights up "STOP" on the dash when pressure is low. As Miles says, these can leak...the leak on mine was bad enough to trigger the "STOP" light. It's not too difficult to change if you have a good selection of sockets/extensions/spanners. The other (larger) sender is the oil pressure gauge....the oil temperature sender is screwed into the rear face of the sump.

All that said, I'd agree if your idle speed has increased, that means air getting in, which points to a perished hose.

Laurence