oil light on
- Thread starter dave364634
- Start date
lookingfora944
New member
Thanks for the help Oli.
I just added about 2 litres to bring it up to max again. I am aware there is an oil leak as indicated by the advisory notes in the MOT, but is losing 2 litres in about 800 miles a big leak, or could that be considered small? And how the heck do I go about finding the source of the leak? By the way, the exhaust never smokes and I never sea any leaks around the spark plugs either
Cheers
Mike
I just added about 2 litres to bring it up to max again. I am aware there is an oil leak as indicated by the advisory notes in the MOT, but is losing 2 litres in about 800 miles a big leak, or could that be considered small? And how the heck do I go about finding the source of the leak? By the way, the exhaust never smokes and I never sea any leaks around the spark plugs either
Cheers
Mike
Mike,
2 litres in 800 miles is a pretty big leak. Not terribly environmentally friendly, and oil on the road is not great for cars, and worse for bikers.
Q. Oil can leak or burn - are you sure it's leaking? (Having said that, if it is burning at that rate then you would know about it by the cloud of blue smoke being trailed everywhere ... )
Finding leaks: Look at the engine - oil leaks are messy. The difficulty is that the oil will blow around and it can be hard to pinpoint exactly where it came from. If in doubt, clean the engine thoroughly (steam clean if you can, or with a jetwasher and some engine cleaner), and drive it for a couple of days and look for the fresh oil.
Another option is to park your car over some clean newspaper at night and see whereabouts the drip comes from. That won't pinpoint it, but can give a good idea as to roughly where it comes from.
Oli.
2 litres in 800 miles is a pretty big leak. Not terribly environmentally friendly, and oil on the road is not great for cars, and worse for bikers.
Q. Oil can leak or burn - are you sure it's leaking? (Having said that, if it is burning at that rate then you would know about it by the cloud of blue smoke being trailed everywhere ... )
Finding leaks: Look at the engine - oil leaks are messy. The difficulty is that the oil will blow around and it can be hard to pinpoint exactly where it came from. If in doubt, clean the engine thoroughly (steam clean if you can, or with a jetwasher and some engine cleaner), and drive it for a couple of days and look for the fresh oil.
Another option is to park your car over some clean newspaper at night and see whereabouts the drip comes from. That won't pinpoint it, but can give a good idea as to roughly where it comes from.
Oli.
Depending on the nature of the leak, judging its seriousness by the amount of oil lost "in 800 miles" may be less relevant than the loss "over X days". Either would need getting to the bottom of, but if the loss is only when the engine is running that tells a different story from loss while parked.
If it is losing two litres in three weeks that's just under 100ml a day, and that amount of oil makes a fair sized puddle on the ground. I have on my office desk here a 100 ml bottle of antiseptic gel stuff left over throm the swine flu scare and it's a substantial amount of liquid.
Definitely get it on a clean surface and see what's dripping when parked. Newspaper blows around so if you have to park outside , I suggest you pop up to the local tip and blag some big cardboard boxes and unfold those into big sheets, then with luck you can trap part of them under one wheel and that will hold them in place.
If it is losing two litres in three weeks that's just under 100ml a day, and that amount of oil makes a fair sized puddle on the ground. I have on my office desk here a 100 ml bottle of antiseptic gel stuff left over throm the swine flu scare and it's a substantial amount of liquid.
Definitely get it on a clean surface and see what's dripping when parked. Newspaper blows around so if you have to park outside , I suggest you pop up to the local tip and blag some big cardboard boxes and unfold those into big sheets, then with luck you can trap part of them under one wheel and that will hold them in place.
lookingfora944
New member
Thanks for the info.
The advisory notes from the last MOT says minor oil leak, but does not specify where abouts.
It could be a mixture of leaking and burning oil, because when I hit high revs, there is sometimes a slight burning sort of smell.
Yes I do have to park outside, so it won't be easy to get something under the car, especially in this weather
But when it was dry, there never seemed to be any patches, so I am assuming that the leak is more pronounced when the engine is on.
I shall certainly try and get to the bottom of it in the coming weeks when I have more time off from work.
The advisory notes from the last MOT says minor oil leak, but does not specify where abouts.
It could be a mixture of leaking and burning oil, because when I hit high revs, there is sometimes a slight burning sort of smell.
Yes I do have to park outside, so it won't be easy to get something under the car, especially in this weather
But when it was dry, there never seemed to be any patches, so I am assuming that the leak is more pronounced when the engine is on.
I shall certainly try and get to the bottom of it in the coming weeks when I have more time off from work.
Posts made and opinions expressed are those of the individual forum members
Use of the Forum is subject to the Terms and Conditions
