Just a quicky, Havent had a chance to have a good look at my car recently but on 2 occasions now I have left small oil puddles when parked. A small one 20cmx20cm friday night, then another tonight after a coast trip. Strangly these are the only 2, non while i was at the coast. or parked anywhere else. Whats some common causes of leaking oil? besides the dead obvious sump bolt. Seals? Turbos? Sump seal? I dont have very much experience in this sort of thing which is why i need somewhere to start. Edit: There is no visible signs of oil on the sump, or tranny. Manaul.
last oil change 3500kms ago, replaced sump washer oil filter. rear engine middle. Good point though i havent seen the oil filter since i had a quick check. Any other ideas?
give the motor a good degrease and steam clean ,wait a few days and the place it is leaking will become obvious to you,there is just too many variables to say where it could be coming from on a forum imo
A 20cmx20cm puddle of oil is not exactly a small leak, I'd park it up until you locate the source of the leak. Idealy you need to get it up in the air and have a real look good underneath it, a leak of that size should be obvious enough once you're under there.
What sort of oil is it? Power steering is usually a good culprit and will, on smooth concrete, leave a good sized puddle with little loss. Check the colour(reddish) and your P/S reserviour
black and thin actually - made need to do another change. Dad said since its a manual it could be tranny because the only difference is the smell. Not that i would know what i am smelling? i am getting ramps for my birthday in 2 weeks, dont think i can wait that long without a car though.
Just how I like my women, sorry I digress. You can get an idea by spotting exactly which area the oil is coming from, it's usually just above the puddle
its unlikely that it is gearbox oil. it is never that dark and it is very thick. It sounds like a sizeable leak, engine oil i expect. keep a close eye ont he engine oil dipstick becuase it should register that sort of amount. As the others said driving it is not recommended. ive seen some bad fires before...........
Gear oil has a very distinctive smell, it's hard to explain but it is alot stronger than engine oil but is usually clearer aswell unless it's old as crap. But as said above leaks the size that you describe would definately be noticable on the dipstick if it is indeed engine oil.
I Just had a look. There is no visible signs of an oil leak from the filter or sump area. there has always been a residue on the sump since i bought but this never affected the oil level. There is however alot of oil on the tranny caseing on the drivers side, oil spatter on the test pipes on on the drivers side. Dad mentioned that if i have lost oil out of the tranny it may seeze up, not good. He also said it might be the tail shaft at the front, he rebuilt his own rx3 and did some vl work (rb30) but not familiar with zeds and refuses to look. It leaked at my house, then at my girlfriends a day later, but it isnt leaking now or while it was parked all day today. I can post piccs after dinner. where should i shoot the camera though, anything important under there. does the transmission ever expel fluid?
Agreed, if it's over the tranny and test pipes then it's guaranteed rear main...don't leave it too long, you'll f(*k your clutch.
Knowing that i will not being driving it now. How long can i leave it undriven? Whats an estimate to fix and will i require a new clutch? I will start my letter to santa now explaining my predicament.
will the clutch sieze if i leave it for a few weeks? I dont think many mechanics are going to attempt this before chrissy
No it won't seize, quite the opposite actually It may impregnate the friction disc and it might slip.
