Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[eddys]

Right.

Thanks again for all the help your giving me. Coming back from holiday its now time to sort the leak. After putting in stop leak, and reliving the pressure in the crank case the leak and come to a drip.

Now when i look under the car i can see the alernator is covered in oil and its also covered higher up the engine block. On the other side of the engine its also covered in oil and its running down the block. All be it tiny amounts now.

The only thing is i cant see any oil leak from the cam covers over the exhaust manifold. There is a some oil stanning on the exhuast manifold the nearside & its not coming from power steering.

Does the cam covers leak anywhere else that i wouldnt be able to see it until its below the manifolds cos there is not staining on the offside above the manfold?

Thanks before i tear it apart. But i cant see it being a Crank Seal if all the alternator is covered in it?

The steering idler is moving up and down when i give the wheel a shake. I take it this means its broken. The wishbones are also shot!.

The other arm on the drivers side is that another idler? and does that need to be replaced?

Thanks ALOT people!

[sev]

Ed, I had exactly the same thing when I bought mine.

I noticed all the leaks you had, and also you'll notice when under the car what looks like oil dripping from the back of the engine onto the cross menber.  If this is the case, then the half moons are also shot on the cam cover seal.  Also when you switch off the car there will be an overpowering smell of burnt oil.

Unlikely to be a crankseal, but you could examine the cambelt for signs of oil contamination.  My alternator is covered in oily deposit also, i've given it a cursory wipe over, and now i'm keeping an eye on it - However remember that the front of the engine sits forward of the manifold heatshields, and if the half moon rubbers on the front of the cam seal are shot, then it's very likely that the oil has run down the front of the engine and onto the alternator that way, running between the cam belt cover rear section - also the knock sensor wiring helps oil track quite nicely too!

As for the steering, i've yet to do mine, so i'll keep watching this thread.  Wishbones... I'm doing those in a couple of weeks... something tells me i'm going to have fun with those!

hope this helps.

[platty]

Not sure about the oil leaks... leave that one to a V6 owner  

With regard to the steering idler, there is only one to be replaced on the passenger side - the other side is your steering box and will be fine. The guide on here for changing is great.

The wishbones are a bit more fun but still do able by most folks. Make sure you follow the guide closely and only torque the front bolts up with the car on the ground and 2 people sat in it!!

They're both fairly straightforward  

[Marks DTM Calib]

Crank oil seal is known to leak on higher mileage cars which have had in-frequent oil changes.

The oil from this gets flung about a bit by the aux pulley so goes round quite a lot of stuff.

[eddys]

Thanks Guys,

Regarding the oil. I cant see it on any pulleys?! like i said its all down the sides of the engine block. But i cant see if uptop around the tops of the cam covers but you cant see the half moons.

I cant see it being crank seal because of the quantity of oil above the alternator and all over the engine block on both sides.

Yes regards the oil dripping it seems to come from all over the engine underneath . The front tray has alot on it but its also run down onto the crossmember and bell housing.

Yes i heard about the wishones but ive got a big big breaker bar. Hoepfully that might help!

Any more ideas on Oil. Im sure it could well be the cam covers. And i understand that you wouldnt see it leak at the half moons.

[sev]

It's all ointing to the cam covers at the moment Eddys,  and more importantly in the scheme of things it's the easiest of the solutions to remedy.

Once you do those, andy excess oil on the top of the engine will burn itself away over the course of a few miles, leaving just your lower oil deposits.

As for wishbones, apply a good penetrant (and I don't mean the mother in law) to get under the skin of those bolts.

On the rear, at least the head of the bolt sits in it's own well, so flooding that overnight should let it seep nicely.  I'm going to start soaking mine a week before, as I'm paranoid.

I went round to my local backstreet garage, and asked if I could get it up on their ramp to torque up for the price of a couple of beers they said yes... didn't realise that I had to have both of them sitting in the car as well  :-/

Read the guides on here, and when they show as stocked, get your cam cover seals kit from here as it contains all you need.  The cambelt DVD is 'kin helpfull as well.

If it wasn't for this place, i'd have weighed the old girl in a month ago! (car not the M.I.L. )

[Marks DTM Calib]

I personally am still not convinced, the normal cause of oil round the front of the sump is the crank seal!

And because of the air turbulance from the aux pulley it goes everywhere!

[eddys]

deep joy.

Well il get the front tray off and the cam cover and see what the crack is. Im dreading the Crank Seal i bet its a total bitch, But its due a cambelt anyway.

Would be good if there was a guide. Does Haynes manual have it?

Also i cant see where you get the cambelt DVD from?!

[dbug]

deep joy.

Well il get the front tray off and the cam cover and see what the crack is. Im dreading the Crank Seal i bet its a total pregnant dog, But its due a cambelt anyway.

Would be good if there was a guide. Does Haynes manual have it?

Also i cant see where you get the cambelt DVD from?!

Yes

OOF shop (Forum Shop)

[sev]

I personally am still not convinced, the normal cause of oil round the front of the sump is the crank seal!

And because of the air turbulance from the aux pulley it goes everywhere!

bugger

[lpgelite]

V6 crank seal - was quoted about £26 from Vx last time I enquired. Yeah right...

Went to Partco / Unipart who sold me a Payen branded seal, which is OE spec AFAIK, and ended up with change from a fiver. Piece of cake if you're doing cambelt at the same time.

Carefully screw a small self tapper into the flat part of the old seal and pull or lever it out.

Make sure the new one is tapped in gently and dead square. It should be flush with the housing if done correctly. Use a large socket as a drift.

Mine was only weeping a fine mist, not p*shing oil out as I had suspected.

Turned out to be cam cover gaskets which I had replaced a few months previously.

Despite buying them from a reputable source, the quality was crap so the new gaskets had shrunk and hardened resulting in a worse oil leak than before.

I was lucky and fleaBayed a pair of metal Vectra covers with better gasket design. Engine now bone dry and smell free...