About a week ago, I took the car out for a spin. Two short runs maybe a couple of miles each. I brought the car back and left it on the drive. I had cause to move it a short while later and I noticed oil puddle under the driver’s side wheel. Closer investigation showed that there was oil along the bottom of the driver’s door and along the side of the car and the driver’s front tyre was covered. The arch liner was also covered as you would expect and the oil level was probably half of what it should have been. Nothing hugely obvious from cooler housing apart from what you might expect flicked from the tyre.
I suspected straight away the oil cooler or the pipework as these faults are well documented.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the car back in the garage for the best part of a week and when I did, the first port of call was to get the liner off and look inside. I was expecting oil to be splattered all over the place but it wasn’t. There is some on the top of the inside of the liner, but not a huge amount, I was expecting if the pipes had leaked onto the top of the liner it to be a lot worse and then permeated through. The pipes themselves are not coated in oil, but there is evidence of the oil coming out of one of the pipes at some point, so they will need to be replaced or refurbed as a safety measure but shouldn't there be more? The car lost half its oil in what I would imagine was a very short space of time, there has been no loss of this type before. Having run my hand around the cooler and pipework, I was not getting anything slick or fresh. I was so unsure; I filled it up with oil again and ran it on the jack, hoping to see some reassuring oil drop out and know for certain. It wouldn’t leak.
I drove it round the block a couple of times and checked it again (watching the oil light like a hawk and being ready to shut it down, I might add)- nothing. I gave it a bit of a flogging a bit further away (although I was very nervous about this) and again, nothing.
Why can’t I recreate this? I have now removed the bumper and extracted the oil cooler and there is no sign of massive leakage recently or further back. I have also removed the pipes and will get them changed as a matter of course as they are old and tired and there are signs of seepage over time but nothing major.
I am a little concerned that I may be missing something. If I get this wrong and it leaks and I don’t spot it quick enough then it may well be adios engine.
IMG_1586 by Michael Baldwin, on Flickr
IMG_2623 by Michael Baldwin, on Flickr
IMG_2620 by Michael Baldwin, on Flickr
IMG_2621 by Michael Baldwin, on Flickr
IMG_2617 by Michael Baldwin, on Flickr
