Oil leak in engine bay

[TonyBlair]

OK guys... need some help here to determine whether I have a serious problem and need to get my Rex down to a specialist or whether it\'s a simple issue that can be resolved myself...

I\'ve had the Rex legal on the road for just a few days now (it\'s a new import). I\'ve spent a good portion of those two days driving the car around and enjoying every moment of it. However today disaster struck.

I took her out for a spin round some country lanes and then off to the motorway and when I got on to the motorway I noticed white smoke coming from the exhaust. The smoke only seemed to appear when I lifted off the accelerator, when changing gear a whole cloud would emerge from the rear end. I made my way back only to find the problem was getting worse.

Upon getting home I lifted the bonnet to find engine oil all over the engine bay, however it was mainly on the passengers side... near the battery.

The car is at the moment is sitting in the driveway cooling down, I\'m going to have a closer look shortly.

Has anyone had similar problems to this at all? Is there anything in particiular I should be looking for, i.e. a lose hose anywhere?

Any help/advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers
Jon

[TonyBlair]

As you can see from the picture most of the engine bay has been greased up with splashes and pools of oil everywhere.

[MikeLMR]

a couple of thoughts, Not too familiar with the FD but here it goes anyway.

1. oil filter ... tight ?
2. oil cooler lines
3. how is the oil pressure ?

[TonyBlair]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the reply. I\'ll check the oil filter later on when I get home. With regards to the oil cooler lines, I\'m not sure where these are, I\'ll have a look later on when I\'m home - any pointers to where they located? Are there many lines?

The oil pressure gauge has always shown the oil pressure to be fairly low - I can\'t remember the exact figure but I kinda ignored this as many people had said the standard gauges are useless - not sure how true this is?

The oil pressure is bound to be very low at the moment as I checked the dipstick  and it seems that most of the oil has been dumped out from somewhere! I have some oil to fill her up again but I\'m keen to find out where it\'s getting out first.

Cheers
Jon

[MikeLMR]

I\'m not sure where the oil cooler lines run but try tracing them back from the oil cooler or coolers that are located either side of the car under the headlights. (may only have one)

The standard oil pressure gauge may not read accurately but I would be worried if it dropped suddenly while at constant RPM or the reading changed from where it normally sits, so it is worth looking at.

as I said I\'m not overly familiar with the FD so I\'m not sure what other oil related parts are on that side of the bay. It may also be worth looking a turbo oil feeds on the other side and see if its being sprayed across by the belts or somthing ?

[TonyBlair]

Thanks Mike, I\'ll have a closer look tomorrow and see if I can trace the oil cooler lines.

All the best,
Jon

[Shaq]

i know it sounds stupid but did you just change your oil ?
i had the same problem one one of my previous cars i had overfilled it with oil, it did the same thing.

shaQ

[cjr]

check your oil filler neck, might be an idea to connect the overflow pipe onto the ast as well.

[bnaellis]

Is it just my eyesight or is there no oil filler cap fitted ?

[MikeLMR]

well that would explain the oil, it doesn\'t look like an oil cap

[TonyBlair]

Shaq - That doesn\'t sound stupid at all mate, especially to me; someone who knows very little about rotary engines  

I did actually top-up the oil yesterday. After checking the dipstick I topped up the oil by a pint, from about 2/3\'s in-between the \'L\' & \'F\' mark to full. I drove the car about for a few hours yesterday evening and it seemed fine? Wouldn\'t any over-filling issues become apparent when driving it for the first time?

BNA_ELLIS - It\'s not your eyes mate    The oil filler cap is obscured in the picture by the strut-brace. It is on there filler neck and tightly secured in-place.

cjr - Thanks for the suggestion mate    I just went out to the car and lifted the bonnet to have a look, but I couldn\'t see the air seperation tank. I could see two pipes connecting to near the top of the filler neck, presummably one of these pipes is the over-flow pipe?

I\'m a bit hampered at the moment with doing anything to the car or even looking at it, I\'ve nothing to light the engine bay over than a touch, so I\'m going to have to wait till day light before I can have a really good look.


Cheers
Jon

[cjr]

the pipes on the oil filler neck are the breather pipe, what i mean on the filler neck is where it is bolted to the block the \'o\' ring can perish or the filler neck is not on striaght. the AST black thing next to battery with pressure cap on it

[TonyBlair]

OK, I know what you mean now. I don\'t know where the pipe that connects into the AST has gone to. Could you tell me where it\'s suppose to connect to i.e. the other end to the AST, that\'s if I can get a replacement that is.

Thanks for all the posts so far!

Cheers
Jon

[cjr]

it connects to the overflow tank behind the headlight on the drivers side. the pipe is proberly flopping around on the undertray.

[TonyBlair]

Looks like the oil seals in the turbos have gone. Plus there\'s side-to-side movement on the shaft in the primary turbo, which has cause the fan blades to become damaged.... new turbos needed I guess. Anyone know if turbo\'s can be repaired/serviced?