Major Oil Leak And White Smoke From Breather

[rochie 1]

My 'new' 205 has developed an oil leak.

 

The leak is pretty major but only when driven, it is clearly splattering up and hitting the bonnet and drops down onto the front of the engine. It seems to be covering the dizzy end of the engine.

 

So I cleaned up all the oil to investigate and found a small to medium leak from the back of the cam cover gasket. But it does not seem significant enough to creat all the oil. Nothing seems to be coming from the dizzy oil seal as I know this is a common issue (I've ordered a new one to replace just in case).

 

The sump and drive shafts were soaked in oil. Could it just be the oil leak from the cam cover dripping onto the shafts and splattering it all over the engine.

 

Also white smoke comes from the breather pipe (with the usual small amount of mayo) which is worrying. But only a small amount.

 

The engine also idles at 1.2k when cold and raises to just over 2k once warm?

 

Some info on the car:

It has jut had the headgasket done by the previous owner and I know for a fact the leak wasn't present before that.

It is also pretty highly tuned; running 1.6 pistons, piper rally can and webers etc.

 

Any help would be great. The white smoke is what is really worrying me!

[rochie 1]

After replacing the cam cover gasket the mayor leak remained.

 

I have since found of all things it is the dipstick which is causing it as it has completely lost its seal. A new dipstick has fixed it!

 

But is there an underlying problem causing the oil to be forced out of the dipstick or would you guys expect this to happen when the car is driven hard?

 

Worried it could be the piston rings that are gone?

[mikeyd 13]

possibly collapsed / blocked breather pipes - remove them and clean

[rochie 1]

possibly collapsed / blocked breather pipes - remove them and clean

Ok thanks, will do. Although there seems to be plenty of air coming out of the pipes as I can see it coming from the oil catch tank

[rallyeash 155]

Knackared, needs replacing with 16v's

[rochie 1]

Haha, cheers rallyeash. Ill sort that this afternoon

[rochie 1]

Right. The latest development looks serious to me so any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

So I sealed the dipstick and all seemed fine. Now after just going to a spirited drive the oil catch tank has filled half with oil! I would guess about 250ml from a 30min drive!

 

So this seems as though the rings have gone so the crankcase is pressurised and forcing a large amount of oil out of the easiest route (which is the breather pipes, since the dipstick is now blocked).

 

Any help would be great. Many thanks

[cheesegrater 43 1 Cars]

Run a compression test to find out which cylinder is low, drop a small amount of oil into the cylinder that is low and carry it out again if the pressure sorts itself out then it points to rings.

[pyrrhic 14 2 Cars]

Have you sorted this problem? My car is having the same issues.

[DamirGTI 342]

If you suspect blow by issue , worn piston rings/liners , then perform leak down test .. it's the only precise testing method for worn out internals diagnosis .

 

Compression test can and will usually trick you badly when measuring compression on an engine which already "consumes" oil , especially if it's more or less evenly worn out across all the cylinders ..

What happens is , as the rings and/or liner surface wears the oil is actually constantly present inside the combustion chamber . You plug in a compression tester , spin the engine few revolutions and the gauge reads good/solid compression state so you think that's fine - wrong !! it reads out "good compression" because of the oil residue inside the cylinder/combustion chamber which seals worn rings/liner and actually masks the problem .. just as if you've done a wet compression test by adding the oil inside the cylinders .

I had an engine with genuine 70.000kms which was consuming 1l of oil every week , compression was 14Bar's on all the four cylinders .. when i dismantled the engine for rebuild i was shocked by the state of the piston rings ! all the piston rings where shoot to death , though oil ones where the worst :

 

 

 

 

D

[pyrrhic 14 2 Cars]

Mine isn't consuming oil but it is blowing oil out the dipstick.