Sudden Oil Leak Developped

[impalator]

Hey there Happy Derhd's and Snobby Nerd's,

My van has - since I've had it - never been the cleanest in terms of oil-spots... Since we had it, it was in the beginning always just the kind of suspicion... "could that oil-stain come from my van?"... but since it was only the odd small spot (imagine the odd Townie-sized mark) and the oil-levels in the crankcase / dipstick viewing had not depleted visibly I kept on thinking: "Oh well, let's check that out once I go in to have a Deli-Tune done sometime in the future..."

Now suddenly I find marks that would cover most of a 20 Dollar Bills in black... I had an oil-change done recently at "real canadian oil change" in North Vancouver and they seemed to have done an ok job (I mean, how bad can you screw up an oil-change other than not mounting the oil filter or using the wrong oil - which both wasn't an issue obviously)...

But the oil-stains persist... I got down on my knees and did some sniffing to find out if it is Diesel or Engine Oil... could not make out any smell distinction (I guess when diesel spills on the pavement, it leaves a black mark... and if black engine oil spills on the pavement it certainly makes a black mark too... so visibly not all that clear either...).

My gut feeling tells me it is engine oil - as when wiped up with the finger it has kind of a greasy quality... but then Diesel is also slightly greasy...

How could an oil-leak develop so suddenly (from nothing or very little to quite a substantial amount...) - I will also measure the dip-stick today to see if I have lost anything..

I hope I didn't break anything (seals or gaskets or so) when pushing the Van up and down the coke last week... I revved it pretty good (so as to not lug the motor and get those insane EGT's) and kept it fairly light on the pedal - but the turbo kept blasting at full pressure at any given time when negotiating a hill. If I took the foot off enough to get a lower reading on the turbo gauge, it would immediately result in clear loss of pull/speed.

Are there any specific areas where I should check? Or do any obvious flags come up when reading the post?

Thanks for any suggestions....

Cheers,
Chris

[JMK]

Take the plastic cowling off the front of the engine that covers your timing and balance shaft belts. The top half comes off easily. Look down inside using a powerful light and see if you can see oil leaking out into there. The lower belt is the balance shaft belt and it may have oil all over it. If you do, see my post from last week.

[Golf Cart]

Chris,

Check backside of the valve cover . If it seems more from the side, try the turbo area

[impalator]

Thanks guys,

Will do just that tonight or tomorrow....

Have a great weekend,

Chris

[JMK]

I should have mentioned that probably before you go to the trouble for the balance belt inspection, I think you can crawl underneath and more or less see if the source of the leak is coming from the general area of the bottom front of the engine where the plastic cowling is. If it obviously isn't then you don't need to go to the trouble of removing it. However, it not a bad thing to do from the standpoint of regular maintenance anyway so you know what's going on in there, and while you're at it have a look at the timing marks that you can see (I think you cannot see the lower cam one with just the top cover off) to make sure they haven't jumped a notch.

[Modsqwad]

Seeing as the leak got much worse after the oil change it would be a good idea to look at the oil filter closely. It is not unknown for the
old filter seal to stick to the block. If the person changing the oil doesn't catch it you wind up with a double seal which can leak or worse blow out from the pressure. If not that it could be as simple as a little bit of dirt under the seal. Spin it off clean it up
and retry it. Buen Suerte.
Andy

[Erebus]

Another thing to check would be the gasket on the drain plug. If they lost that, then it would leak -- not hugely, but about what you describe.

I speak from personal experience ... as in I personally lost the gasket on my Subaru many years ago. Now I know better. I even have a couple of spares now in the glove compartment.

[Journeyman]

I had an oil-change done recently at "real canadian oil change" in North Vancouver

Why not go back and explain that ever since you had your oil changed you have developed an unusual oil leak? It would also only take any competent shop about 30min on a hoist to give you a full report on all your oil leaks, small price to pay for peace of mind in case a small oil leak turns into a gushing mess leaving you stranded. Just a couple of suggestions.

-Nick