Oil leak - passenger side front

[Bob]

Is it this guy would you say?

Simon
Contractmechanics
The Garage
Unit 9 Churchlands Farm Ind Est,
Bascote Road,
Harbury,
Warwickshire CV33 9PL

Cheers

Mark

Bingo.

[Northern Bongolow]

He will check the condition of the crankshaft pulley while he's doing the seal, they are a rubber bonded hobby that are known to fall apart.
Then you may fall apart when you price them up.

[jockodipunto]

Hi all,

Had a good chat with Simon from Contractmechanics about the oil leak situation. His advice was to get hands dirty once again and have a proper look at the area around the camshaft seals at the front. He went on to explain that the crank seal is not a pressure seal and is therefore a lot less likely to 'GO'.

So that is what I will be doing tonight. If the front cam seal does need changing, can I assume the rocker cover will need to come off? If so, guess this would be a good opportunity to get the rocker gaps checked and adjusted if needed??

Cheers

Mark

[mikeonb4c]

Okay - bit of an update on this. So, I had the van parked up and running for 20 or so minutes at temperature but absolutely NO sign of a leak. So I took it for a blat up and down the A46 and then had a look. Quite a 'good' leak from what looked to be the leading edge of the oil sump.

So while leaving the engine running and mopping up the oil, I think I have found where I believe the oil is leaking from and I think it is the front crank oil seal. I did think at first it might have been a leak in the joint between the sump and the engine but on closer inspection the oil was coming over the top of the lip above the sump and directly under the crank. No I am assuming it is the crank as everything else above that seemed to be dry and I couldn't see a damp source of the leak anywhere else.

So I am going to take a punt and get it booked in tomorrow (unless you more knowledgeable good folk have any other suggestions?). I don't think I will get the timing belt and tensioner etc changed as it was done last year with only 5k miles on it. I will save that for a rainy day.

Oh and by the way, is it safe enough to drive while the underguard is off for a few miles or so???

Cheers and thanks as always for the great advice.

Mark

Personally for an extra £30/40 I would replace the cam belt, and it will be ok to run with the UT removed providing you don't encounter UFO on the road.

Spotted this post a bit late but I'm always keen to avoid dropping oil on the road if possible and when i had a leaky diesel pump seal i found the undertray was a very good place to put a drip tray and it would happily stay in place (a plastic milk bottle cut in half lengthwise, for example). That could be an alternative solution if there was space in the right place. However, provided you're on the move and the drip rate isnt too excessive, the oil on the road problem should be minimal. Good luck getting it sorted - not heard many cases of leaky crank/cam seals on diesel Bongos. Oh and i'd definitely get the tappets checked/adjusted if not too £s. When I had to have a new head, i was amazed at how much quieter/nicer my engine sounded in respect of tappet sound, making me wonder how far out adjustments had drifted over time. Makes the car feel newer!

[jockodipunto]

Hello again all,

Not had a chance to get it booked in with Simon having just returned off a camping weekend in the van. I checked the oil on returning which was half way down the dipstick and also took another look under the engine. Managed to get the van raised a little bit so had more of a chance to look closer at the engine. It now looks like the engine is wet from an area quite a bit above the crank pulley. I have tried to take photos but just appear to get either thumb shots or just reflected light so I will attempt to describe where the oil appears to be starting from.

So here goes..... looking from the bottom up the wetness appears above a pulley which is directly above the crank pulley (is this the water pump?). Above that is what I think is the cam cover, the dampness also appears halfway up this. I have looked to see whether I can easily get this case off and have a look under but there is a metal pipe obscuring one of the bolts near the large coolant pipe at the top of the engine. Could the leak be coming from the front cam seal? I have removed the metal bridge piece in the can to get a better view of life but am a bit reluctant to remove the rocker cover as I have recently change the rocker gasket and all looks dry in that region, but if I were to remove the cover, would I be able to check on the cam seals from there?

Finally, oil seems to pool in an area just by the temp guage sender and there is a hex bolt that has been covered in red sealant, any idea what this bolt is? I assume the sealant has been applied there as a remediation activity??

Thanks as always -

Mark

[teenmal]

If the oil is gathering at the sender I would be looking at the rocker cover gasket , or the setscrew that you mentioned could be stripped and also contributing to the leak. Your best bet is to wash down and completely dry off the engine ,

Take care

[jockodipunto]

Thanks for the feedback.

Okay I will take another look at the rocker cover gasket, maybe I pinched it somewhere when I replaced it and will also see whether I can see any evidence of issues with the front cam seal while I am there.

Will give it a good clean up and also so whether I can get any photos.

Just out of interest, the oil leak only happens when the engine is warm and also when it has been driven - not when simply idling and when it does leak there are drops, it isn't just a 'weep'. In your experience could a badly fitted rocker cover gasket leak that much??

I guess I will find out

Cheers

Mark

[jockodipunto]

Hello,

I have just whipped the rocker cover off and I am pretty convinced it is not leaking - I inspected the mating surfaces and I could not find any evidence of leaks, I have cleaned the area around the sender which is now pretty pristine. I have also started to remove the cam belt cover but could not get it off as one of the inlet manifold pipes (large one) was in the way. How much of a job is it to remove the inlet manifold elbow so I can get the cam cover off? I was able to displace the cam cover enough to see some of the cam belt which did not show any evidence of oil contamination - not sure if that is enough to assume the cam seal is okay? - any thoughts on that?

There is definite traces of oil contamination half way down the front of the cam cover but on the outside...……..

I am thinking now that I am okay with the rocker cover gasket. I am going to get the cam cover off tomorrow just to check the cam seal. After that I think I will remove the scavenger fan, get the van securely on ramps, clean the front of the engine off again and then run it. I am assuming it is okay to run the van with the cam cover off while stationary.

Anyone got any other thoughts on where this ghost leak might be coming from??

Cheers

Mark

[jockodipunto]

Hi all,

Just thought I would provide a final update for this topic as the oil leak has now been fixed.

So the culprit here turned out to be the cam shaft seal at the front (this was the last bit that I couldn't get to in order to check). There was also an issue with the rocker gasket that I bought; turned out to be a problem with it so that was also weeping a little bit too.

At the time of the cam shaft seals and rocker cover gasket being replaced, it also turned out that the camshaft and rockers were worn and these too were replaced and also had the timing belt replaced as well.

All of the above work was done in an afternoon by Simon of Contract Engineers and I have to say the van is transformed. All my van related mechanic work will now go to Simon - can't recommend him highly enough.

Cheers

Mark

[mikeonb4c]

Hi all,

Just thought I would provide a final update for this topic as the oil leak has now been fixed.

So the culprit here turned out to be the cam shaft seal at the front (this was the last bit that I couldn't get to in order to check). There was also an issue with the rocker gasket that I bought; turned out to be a problem with it so that was also weeping a little bit too.

At the time of the cam shaft seals and rocker cover gasket being replaced, it also turned out that the camshaft and rockers were worn and these too were replaced and also had the timing belt replaced as well.

All of the above work was done in an afternoon by Simon of Contract Engineers and I have to say the van is transformed. All my van related mechanic work will now go to Simon - can't recommend him highly enough.

Cheers

Mark

Great to hear this - have read lots of good reports about Simon.