Oil leak ? or worse

[Team28crew]

Right the details are a bit sketchy so sorry about that but my van has been sat still since the end of Feb as I have been doing the interior, yesterday (Sunday) I put the battery back in checked oil and water and fired her up, she started on the first turn and sounded sweet so took it for a spin into town and then a couple of junctions up the M-way and back all was well regarding temp ect and engine sounded good. Got up this morning to travel up to Stranraer to get the ferry to NI and notice a puddle of oil under the van, the oil is nice and clean and is on the drivers side of the engine, the van was serviced just before I parked it up for the refurb. There was quite a bit of oil on the floor but I didn't have time to have a proper look due to having to get up to Scotland and I won't have a chance to take a look until Friday so its annoying the hell out of me as to what the cause is so has anyone got any ideas so I can start to formulate a plan for when I get back.

Cheers, Mark

[jason k]

rocker gaskets?

dont forget oil spreads so a little drip can look huge!!

get under and see where its coming from, but most importantly top the bugger back up!!

[Team28crew]

Cheers Jason
I forgot to mention I had the rocker cover gaskets done during the service, I can't look at it as Im away until Friday and its doing my head in hoping its not fatal I was a lot of oil though much more than a drip.

[kevtherev]

did they need changing then?

have VW gaskets been used?

have they been seated correctly .. ?

[Ian Hulley]

RHD 1.9/2.1 petrol ? There's nothing oil wise on the offside except the rocker gasket and the oil filler tube. Could be a pushrod tube seal but sounds like a rocker gasket, especially if recently disturbed.

Ian

[axeman]

i had an oil leak that i could not trace, seamed to be comming from the oil cooler (2.1mv) just above the oil filter. changed the large o ring changed the oil filter, and still leaking, looked like a crack in the case. i mean it realy looked like a crack,

but it turned out that the oil preasure switch had a split on the plastic section where the spade conector is, and was leaking from there, made quite a mess on the floor.

worth cheaking as i bet that the switch is well over 25 years old, and plastic getting hot then cold has to be brittle by now.

neil

[Team28crew]

did they need changing then?

have VW gaskets been used?

have they been seated correctly .. ?

1.Yep they needed doing

2.I would expect so

3.I hope so

The service was carried out by a very reputible person but not had a chance to call them yet due to traveling all day, the van covered around 50-60 miles after the service on the M-way so got up to full temp and pressure before being parked up for the refurb and there where no signs of a leak and the oil level before I started it up was fine. Just wondered if this had happen to anyone else so when I call it in I have an idea of what may of happened, just glad I noticed it before I left or the Mrs would have driven it during the week and fupped it.

[Team28crew]

RHD 1.9/2.1 petrol ?

RHD 1.9 DF (see sig )

Rocker gasket not so bad then, hopfully thats the cause. Thanks for the ideas guys, always happens just as I need to go away for work its like leaving the kids home alone

[kevtherev]

instead of calling them get under it, clean it up, run it up and see where it's coming from...

My moneys on the gasket.. reputation or not

[Team28crew]

instead of calling them get under it, clean it up, run it up and see where it's coming from...

Will do Kev, just hoping its not fubard at least I'll sleep a bit better now if it sounds like the rocker gasket, was driving me mad on the 5hr drive, 2hr ferry and 1hr drive, I hate not know whats wrong .

[Ian Hulley]

I had the devil's own job sealing one rocker gasket on our's, I ended up using hylomar having drained the oil and jacking it up the other way so the surfaces were spotless and dry till the sealant had worked. That was with cheap and cheer-less GSF caps and gaskets though

[jason k]

i had a similar prob and that was with vw gaskets and new vw rocker covers.

turns out the spring was fubard

[jamesc76]

Clean it up wang a sheet of cardboard under it and see what drips , car boards great as it dont spread oil to far to quick!

[Team28crew]

Thanks for the advice chaps, I'll do the carboard thing when i get home and let you know the outcome, thanks again

[Team28crew]

Just to let you know that it looks like the O/S rocker gasket, thanks again for your help Im going to see how much oil its lost and then get it sort .