Loosing two litres of engine oil daily!

[IHateMySelf]

Hi i bottomed out my car very badly last week and every since its leaking oil everywhere!

The oil has squirted mid way up the engine so theres no way if knowing where its coming from at this point.... does anyone know what i might have jolted or damaged to take a closer look at?

Thanks guys!

[jgra1]

that's a fair bit of oil if its going onto the roads... ... especially if you are a biker or cyclist

don't drive it anymore until you find the problem I would say.. if you bottomed her, then it has to be the sump as a first call.. raise her on high, and use a mirror and a torch to look around. (don't go under her whatever you do) or better still get 2 car ramps and drive her up and look (on high setting)

J

[IHateMySelf]

I'm not driving it anymore for that very reason seen as i ride bikes too.

I relised the oil light came on so i topped up but then it came on again the next day so i topped up again as i couldn't see any leaks so i thought maybe a sensor error this being a Citroen and all...

But then all of a sudden BAM! Oil everywhere!

[jgra1]

glad you taken off the road
it should be obvious if you can get a good look.. and plenty of rag to wipe away the residual.. then start her up and look again..
worth wearing some latex gloves as this is all a bit messy and nasty.

John

[IHateMySelf]

Well its still on the road so to speak but i will pour some sand over the area once i move it.

I did a test this morning and it only leaves a stain after you have turned off the engine and not whilst idling... ?

The upper part of the engine is where the signs begin to show. Any ideas?

[jgra1]

what is your name? I cant really call you Ihatemyself as, well... its a lot of letters

that oil looks old and gungy, not fresh from the arteries of the engine.. .. and high up, so wouldn't be from a knock underneath.. clean oil leaks look very different to that.. and 2L would be everywhere..
you really need to look underneath, safely.. but if you have no ramps then you need to keep away from her, put suspension on highest setting, and look with light and a mirror, even a shaving mirror or wife's hair type mirror , just don't tell her

or if you cant look, get car to the nearest garage with ramps, give them a tenner and ask to show you the leak.. this may be best, if somewhere is around the corner?

John

is there any smoke from the engine? especially grey or blue.

[Peter.N.]

I came off the track that leads to the road a bit fast and knocked a great lump out of the sump on mine, I think it must have made a bigger hole than yours as I lost all the oil in about 50 yards. It also broke the drivers side engine mounting or at least a couple of the bolts - I'm very careful with it now.

Peter

[Zelandeth]

If you're losing that much it shouldn't really be that hard to find where it's coming from really! The only headache really is that the undertray could well result in it landing on the ground nowhere near where it's actually leaking from.

Odd the behaviour you're describing, though it does bring to mind the oil leak I've had on my Saab (um...for the last couple of years...really do need to fix it sometime), which is coming from the crankshaft oil seal. It doesn't leak at all when the engine is running, but does drip for a couple of minutes when the engine is switched off (I figure it's due to oil flooding back from the upper parts of the engine), though it makes the car mark its territory when parked, it doesn't actually use a visible amount on the dipstick between services. Are you sure that it only started when you shut the engine off and it's not that it just happened to find its way to the ground at that point?

Almost wonder if there's part of the PCV system that's under vacuum while the engine is running before an oil separator might have been partly dislodged, and a lot of the oil is then draining back out of it rather than back to the sump when the engine is shut down...

Other than that I think you're going to either need to get it on some ramps (wear eye protection...engine oil in the eye is bad) or get a mirror and have a look.