Oil / fuel problems after service
Posted: 21 Apr 2014, 20:22
Hi, not been on here in a while (mainly because the van was starting to stress me out over the damp and miserable winter). Anyway, sunny days are back so with new found optimism I got the van serviced and MOT'd on Thursday - only issues to report were a slightly leaky injector and a couple body work advisories. The garage delivered the van home and when I stuck my nose in on Thursday night it stank of diesel - aired it out over night and put this down to the injector work.
Family in the van for first run out on Saturday - after about five miles the diesel smell (suddenly) reappeared but seemed to fade a bit after we stopped. Set off again but probably 10 or so miles later diesel smell again + my wife reported smoke in the back so we mildly panicked pulled over. Inspection of the engine bay showed the engine fairly oily and the haze my wife had seen looking to be oil burning off on the engine + oil dripping off the (previously cleaned) tray underneath.
The guy who 'collected' us was more recovery than repairman but he pointed out that the breather pipe was disconnected from the engine, that he thought the oil was likely coming from the point where the dipstick housing meets the engine and that he felt it might have been over filled. The neck of the flange the breather connects to is also very oily and there appears to be a pronounced oily patch on the body work beneath it (I do have a picture but it's a bit crap).
I'm obviously going back to the garage tomorrow to get them to have another look and get their side on things but would like to be armed with some info, so:
a) Would the disconnected breather pipe account for the strong fuel smell or is that a red herring?
b) I've dipped the stick a few times and the oil level is coming out at the lower end of the squiggle that's bent into it (i.e a fair few mm above the the two punched dots) - that's after it's spat an amount all over the engine and the A170. I suppose the question is how full is too full and what damage might this cause after 20 / 25 miles of driving + should I be expecting to see significant oil at the mouth of the breather connection?
I'm well aware that stuff goes wrong and no service is ever going to catch every imminent problem so would prefer to be slightly clued up before going off on one at the garage if it's not their fault!
Cheers and I hope some of you got some happy motoring in this weekend - at least we've found there are worse vehicles to be stranded in, especially if you've git a full picnic hamper with you!
Family in the van for first run out on Saturday - after about five miles the diesel smell (suddenly) reappeared but seemed to fade a bit after we stopped. Set off again but probably 10 or so miles later diesel smell again + my wife reported smoke in the back so we mildly panicked pulled over. Inspection of the engine bay showed the engine fairly oily and the haze my wife had seen looking to be oil burning off on the engine + oil dripping off the (previously cleaned) tray underneath.
The guy who 'collected' us was more recovery than repairman but he pointed out that the breather pipe was disconnected from the engine, that he thought the oil was likely coming from the point where the dipstick housing meets the engine and that he felt it might have been over filled. The neck of the flange the breather connects to is also very oily and there appears to be a pronounced oily patch on the body work beneath it (I do have a picture but it's a bit crap).
I'm obviously going back to the garage tomorrow to get them to have another look and get their side on things but would like to be armed with some info, so:
a) Would the disconnected breather pipe account for the strong fuel smell or is that a red herring?
b) I've dipped the stick a few times and the oil level is coming out at the lower end of the squiggle that's bent into it (i.e a fair few mm above the the two punched dots) - that's after it's spat an amount all over the engine and the A170. I suppose the question is how full is too full and what damage might this cause after 20 / 25 miles of driving + should I be expecting to see significant oil at the mouth of the breather connection?
I'm well aware that stuff goes wrong and no service is ever going to catch every imminent problem so would prefer to be slightly clued up before going off on one at the garage if it's not their fault!
Cheers and I hope some of you got some happy motoring in this weekend - at least we've found there are worse vehicles to be stranded in, especially if you've git a full picnic hamper with you!
