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MG MGF Technical - OIL LEEK

I have a oil leek on my car it's to the back of the engine in the midle drips about once every other day? any ideas
David Smith

Take it in to a garage
it might be the inner gearbox seal
I had that and it sounds similar, yes I thought it was the engine but it was fixed under warranty.
best get it checked

Neil

Dave,

When you refer to the 'back of the engine' do you mean the back of the car....?

Are you noticing any drip in oil level on the dip stick....? If not then you may been loosing a bit of gearbox oil. Is there oil splatter on the front of the CAT? A common complaint is the drive shaft seal. I had mine replaced earlier in the year. Another reason for oil to be coming out is if the gearbox has been overfilled with oil, A good check to do before doing anything else. The filling point is a bit tricky to get to, I'll try to find a link for you later.

Tim
tim woolcott

Tim

When i say back of the the engine i mean towards the front of the car (closest to the seats) and there is no drop in the amount of oil on the dip stick as i have been monitoring this closely since the HGF and as for seeing oil on the cat the leek is very close to the cat but my CAt has all but fallen apart????
David Smith

I agree with Neil - be suspicious of the drive shaft seals Tim...
Rob Bell

OK, could be a couple of things coming from that side of the engine...

A cam ladder seal or possibly a cam shaft seal.... Rob and I replaced the cam seal on my car last week for this very reason. If the cam seal is not fitted square then after a few months a little oil will leak out. Not awfully bad but annoying and it will slowly get worse.

The cam Ladder is sealed to the head with a putty like gasket, it is possible for this to leak and tends to come out the front of the engine (seat side) due to the engine tilting in that direction.

Probably the best thing to do is to remove the access panel and have a good look around to ascertain the problem.

tim woolcott

OHH NO!!!!!!!!!!

I have Sent my F in to the garage to have said LEEK looked at.
I have just phoned then and they said it looks like it's a few bolts they must have left loose when they did the head gasket!!!
That's not a good sign!!!
David Smith

>they said it looks like it's a few bolts they must have
>left loose when they did the head gasket

thats quite a good sign, not only have they found the problem, but they've admitted liability!

Most lightly a new cam cover gasket and job done.
Will Munns

That'll be the 12 or so bolts holding the cam ladder to the head I would think. Loose bolts will probably mot be a big issue and would just result in a bit of oil loss. Would be nice to get some reassurance from the garage though....

Tim
tim woolcott

>That'll be the 12 or so bolts holding the cam ladder to the head I would think.

I hope not, the "head" is
cam cover->
cam cover gasket->
cam carrier->
goo (GCC 107?)->
head

so if it's the goo gone then it requires pulling the head apart, and cleaning up with the evil "foaming gasket remover". Still it' not like they're going to charge you for it!
Will Munns

all done no charge
David Smith

Dave,

Did they actually describe to you what the problem was....?
tim woolcott

Well i'm not sure what bolts where loose he did not say. but He said the Distributer seal was leaking???
David Smith

This thread was discussed between 06/10/2003 and 14/10/2003

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