Oil leak front central

[hogesar]

Last couple of days since solving the fuel leak i've parked on a clean area and noticed a little bit of oil on the ground. Not alot, but enough to be noticed. As you sit in the car it's basically right at the front of the engine bay, maybe very slightly off to the drivers side but not much.

Not had a chance to look underneath but is there common places where this occurs?

[hogesar]

sounds like a leak from the oil cooler pipe joint on the pipe that runs under where the battery is.

[Scartlead]

Could be the oil lines, as unless they've been replaced ,are prone to leaking. Will be the case of having a good look to see roughly where it's coming from

[13Black]

In that area, not really anything common that causes enough to drip.
Could be sump or engine front main seal, but they typically just make things moist and dirty.
Or oil cooler lines as mentioned but leaks at that point are rather rare.

Only way is take intake air filter box out, battery & box out, and then have a good nose.

[hogesar]

The airflow under the car as it drives along can be fairly random, and some air can actually blow forwards.

This means that a small leak from further back can collect nearer the front and then drip from there when parked-up.

My advice is to get a can of engine cleaner, give a good spray and hose the residue off, so you can see what's there.
Take the car for a slow drive, to dry off the remaining water and give the leak a chance to make itself known.
It can sometimes help to dust talc around to make the source of a weeping joint or porous sump more obvious.

[hogesar]

So I may have lied upon the location of the leak. It's been sat at work a while and looking in via the front driver side wheel I can see this..




So i stuck my phone underneath the leak and blasted a few pics. Means nothing to me but maybe to someone else?

[hogesar]

from those pics id bet on one of 3 things. in order.
oil cooler line
OMP either the gasket or the banjos
sump gasket.

all of which should be relatively easy once identified.

[ChrisHolmes]

It could also be the remnants of the hydraulic oil from the leaking shock absorber having become contaminated but it does look like engine oil.

[hogesar]

That's another good reason for cleaning it all off and starting again.

I once had an MOT advisory for my car because of "an oil leak", which turned-out to be overspray from when I'd lubricated the steering uj

[hogesar]

It could also be the remnants of the hydraulic oil from the leaking shock absorber having become contaminated but it does look like engine oil.

I did consider that purely because it's very light coloured oil in reality. But then this oil hasn't been in the engine long either! Also it doesn't seem to be in the right place for it to be from the shock - nor would I expect it to be leaving puddles for 2 days consecutively!

I'll clean it all up at the weekend and then have a proper look.

[hogesar]

It might be worth a dab-n-sniff test.

Gearbox oil is quite de-stink-tive
You may also be able to tell the difference between engine oil, shock and a brake fluid (also check the reservoir level)

[PeteH]

Looks like there is a drain plug right in the middle of those pics.... Surely worth taking it out, cleaning it up, and reinstalling it with a new washer, to the correct torque.

[hogesar]

Yeah pretty certain its engine oil.

Pete I'll check that drain plug, looks from the pics it might be coming from above but then again could be splashing everywhere whilst driving so worth a check!

[PeteH]

I'd do a spanner check on the sump bolts as well. If you are lucky you'll find some loose ones.

If you do find some loose ones you should take the sump off, clean the surfaces and check for flatness (a steel rule will do). Then replace it. I think it needs sealant rather than a gasket (but I could be wrong).

(Don't go mad tightening the bolts. They are small bolts, and some go into aluminium. I can't remember the torque setting, but it's not much)

[13Black]

Only 10 Nm but even with a torque wrench with freshly tapped holes, I've stripped threads. These days I just do them by hand with a 1/4" drive.

No gasket, just RTV - but they're a pain to properly seal up... keep your eyes peeled and there may be some purpose-made RX-8 sump gaskets available soon, no sealant necessary and should be reusable. I'm waiting on one to test and shall report back.

[warpc0il]

If the sump has been previously removed then some sealant (yes, no gasket) could have got up inside the blind bolts holes.

Best case, the bolts don't actually clamp the rim of the sump and it leaks
Worse case, the hydraulic forces of the bolts on the trapped sealant cracks the engine housing

sump_bolts.jpg

Alternatively, someone may have been so aware of the risk of the above that they didn't apply enough sealant and/or torque the bolts up hard enough.

Updated to show lower pan, rather than upper pan. The issue with the blind holes in the same but the bolt torques are less.

[ChrisHolmes]

That someone would have been me Dave as I put the sump onto the engine. I used Reinzoseal metal to metal sealant on the joint which is similar to Hylomar but not as viscous as RTV. The low level oil light switch decided to play up just after start up so if the sump is coming off this can be sorted at the same time.
I have another sump here with a switch which I can post over to Callum if he wants it.

[RenesisRaceBuggy]

A little late as that does just look like the sump/engine oil - but for future use, hydraulic damper oil is pretty easy to test, it's generally very thin and if you rub it between your fingers it's not actually very slippery - it's generally a poor lubricant, it feels almost dry and you'll still have grippy hands. There's also generally almost no scent to it compared to engine or especially gearbox oils.

I had good results with Surface Sealent (anerobic gel) instead of RTV on my S1 engines, which doesn't have the issue of it squeezing out and causing blockages - although it didn't work on the R3 as the sump edges weren't flat enough for it to seal.

[warpc0il]

That someone would have been me Dave as I put the sump onto the engine.

I think we're a way off from concluding that it is the sump joint, just yet.

[hogesar]

Just checking guys - I'm currently still driving this to and from work. I'm checking oil level every journey- I shouldnt be doing any lasting damage should I?

[ChrisHolmes]

Should be ok as I guess it's not a pressurised leak, you would have likely way more oil around if it was.

[goodeggbob]

Only if it gets on your tyres or suddenly dumps the entire sump content on the road.

I'd be more confident giving reassurance if you'd determined the source of the leak.

A weeping sump joint isn't likely to suddenly get worse, same for the plug, unless it's loose.

However if it's the oil cooler hose then it could suddenly fail completely.

Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

[hogesar]

So don't get me wrong, as per I only had 20 minutes going to spare but I jacked the car up, cleaned around the area where the oil was leaking, put her back down, started up and let her run for 10 mins. I've since been back under and taken a load of pics. They're not really conclusive to me but might be to others.

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[PeteH]

Doesn't look like your drain plug then. I'd still go with sump.

[hogesar]

Yeah I think it may be from the seal around the sump but i'm not totally sure.