Alex's oil leak - new pics inside...

[Alex]

I guess it's a difficult one to call without seeing the car, just wondering if this has happened to anyone else.

My car's started dropping oil patches in the last couple of days, and it's got me worried.

I reckon it's one of two things.

- My crankcase breathes into the nearside chassis leg, and has done since the conversion four years ago. How sealed, if at all, is this? Could this just be gunge dripping out of the chassis leg because it's full of shit? I assume it wouldn't be totally sealed though if there's a hole at the top.

- My oil cooler pipework may be leaking, though I'm not sure how that would've happened as it's not very exposed and the pipes have pretty thick walls



Lame. Basically.

[Alex]

[Dan]

That'll probably be your oil cooler pipes/unions

[Nick_S]

Make sure there is some white ptfe tape on the thread where the pipes connect to the oil cooler. This will seal it nicely, from memory its not that good a seal otherwise. The aluminium threads on the cooler connects are very soft, so beware not to overtighten them.

[Alex]

Cool, I'll sort that one evening this week.

[Andy]

Though to be fair when my breather was vented to my chassis leg; after a few thousand miles the car started marking its spot...

[Robga]

How far around towards the front of the bumper is the oil?
If there is no oil in the bumper below where the cooler is mounted then i doubt it will be the cooler connection unions.

Looking at the picture the pipe work runs above where the oil is in the bumper.
The pipe might have a small hole where its rubbed through (arrowed in picture)



or as Andy said could be catch tank breather vent, although on mine the catch tank fills with oily water and creamy sludge but in the picture the patch looks very oil like to me.

When did you last empty the catch tank?

Rob

[Alex]

There doesn't seem to be any near the cooler itself, it's all on the flap of bumper under the left hand fog light.

I need to take the bumper off to have a look really, but I reckon it's likely to be a split hose or gunge dripping out of my chassis leg rather than the unions on the cooler itself. If it is, they've worn through very quickly, the cooler has only been on the car for a 1000-1500 miles.

[Alex]

I'm a bit confused by this now, finally got a flash in behind the bumper and I'm still unsure where it's dripping from.

Here's one to show the extent of the leak - it's pretty messy.



But if you look at it close-up, there's no oil anywhere near where it could rub, and it looks like it's dripping down from the chassis leg.



Would the oil in the rubber hoses be high enough pressure to squirt upwards a bit? I'm guessing not, which means it's dripping onto this bit.

I guess if that's not the problem then it must be a split where the hose goes between the chassis leg and the bumper iron, which is then dripping down onto this bit.

Either that, or it's just the chassis leg catch tank leaking. A lot. I guess it's thick enough that it'd take a while to run down and drip off the bottom

I've routed the oil cooler pipes behind the bumper iron, so looking at this pic:


It goes across the chassis leg between the two spots of rust (I've cut the plastic flap back to make room - doesn't seem tough enough to cut through rubber hose but I guess it could?) Based on this pic, it's dripping off the chassis leg though.

[Andy]

Alex, that's your chassis leg catch tank leaking. It's handy rust proofing, but a pain if you're parking on nice driveways! Either fit a catch tank, or leave it and don't worry.

[Dan]

Yeah, does look like it's coming out of the chassis leg. But make sure the hoses aren't rubbing against metal (especially sharp edges). The hoses move from vibration and engine movemet and can rub through paint, under seal or through the pipe.

[Alex]

I've got a chance to get it up on the ramps tomorrow, so I'll have a quick look then just to make sure it isn't leaking. I ordered a new hose just in case, doesn't hurt to have a spare and I'll change it if it's damaged at all.

Hopefully it'll be good news though.

Either way, gonna get on the blower to sort out a catch tank tomorrow.

[Dan]

yeah, catch tank all the way. I found most off the shelf don't have the right diameter inlets or are an awkward size. Getting my sheet metal fabricator to make me a cylinderical alu one with brackets to fit in stock locations. 

Let me know about that exhaust manifold, Alex.

[Alex]

Yep, it's a load of sludge making its way out of the breather pipe. It's fairly well crudded up, which isn't good. I'll give it a clean out while I'm back in Cardiff this weekend.

I've been advised to run oil flush through the car though. It's something I've never been keen on, mainly because I can't see it doing the Lader any good. Are any of these G40 friendly?

[hayesey]

I wouldn't worry about it, oil breathers are pretty messy things