For some time now I have been trying to eliminate an oil leak on my 2.7 lux that has been there since I acquired the car over a year ago and so I thought this may be of help to others in a similar position.
I noticed a slight leak was coming from the top of the engine and also from lower down dripping off the oil cooler and power steering assembly. There was also a slight coolant leak lower down around the oil cooler. This led me to suspect that the gasket had failed and set about trying to fix the oily mess.
At the same time that I replaced the belts I renewed the rear cam gasket, main camshaft tower gasket and front camshaft seals. I couldn't see any evidence of leaks around the belt area so that was promising.
This did not reduce the leaking to any great extent so I concentrated on the oil cooler. I replaced the OPRV crush washer, but again this was not causing the leak.
I then decided that it had to be the oil cooler gasket although it was impossible to be sure and I had previously tightened the bolts with no luck. This is a messy job as both the oil and coolant need to be drained and there's very little room to remove the cooler housing itself. I eventually managed to extricate it and as well as replacing the main gasket I put in new seals since I had the opportunity to do so. I also put in a new thermostat because the fan would come on almost as soon as the car came to a standstill, although it wasn't overheating.
After putting everything back together I started it up and was really fed up to find coolant dripping from underneath the car. I checked all the hose connection etc, but to no avail. As I stood perplexed at the front of the car I noticed that there was coolant seeping from the bleed screw which I had inadvertently left open and as you can imagine I was very relieved to see that. Once I had tightened it up all was fine and now I have a leak free engine and can at last replace the bottom cover that I had cleaned in preparation for this momentous day.
I noticed a slight leak was coming from the top of the engine and also from lower down dripping off the oil cooler and power steering assembly. There was also a slight coolant leak lower down around the oil cooler. This led me to suspect that the gasket had failed and set about trying to fix the oily mess.
At the same time that I replaced the belts I renewed the rear cam gasket, main camshaft tower gasket and front camshaft seals. I couldn't see any evidence of leaks around the belt area so that was promising.
This did not reduce the leaking to any great extent so I concentrated on the oil cooler. I replaced the OPRV crush washer, but again this was not causing the leak.
I then decided that it had to be the oil cooler gasket although it was impossible to be sure and I had previously tightened the bolts with no luck. This is a messy job as both the oil and coolant need to be drained and there's very little room to remove the cooler housing itself. I eventually managed to extricate it and as well as replacing the main gasket I put in new seals since I had the opportunity to do so. I also put in a new thermostat because the fan would come on almost as soon as the car came to a standstill, although it wasn't overheating.
After putting everything back together I started it up and was really fed up to find coolant dripping from underneath the car. I checked all the hose connection etc, but to no avail. As I stood perplexed at the front of the car I noticed that there was coolant seeping from the bleed screw which I had inadvertently left open and as you can imagine I was very relieved to see that. Once I had tightened it up all was fine and now I have a leak free engine and can at last replace the bottom cover that I had cleaned in preparation for this momentous day.
