Oil leak at the front of the engine

[Sam E]

Evening all,

I've had my 197 just under 3 years now and it's always had a minor oil leak somewhere under the bonnet but I just kept the oil topped up and never investigated deep enough to find the cause. Now the weather is nicer it's maintenance time so I thought I'd ask on here to see if anyone could help identify where the leak originates. The front of the block itself seems pretty grubby and when I last dropped the undertray there was a fair amount of sludge that needed cleaning off the underside of it. I've got a couple of pictures below to show the current state:



The oil seems to be pooling on the upper surface of the lower inlet manifold:



It's in this location (picture nabbed from another forum):



Am I right in assuming it's the cam cover/carrier gasket that's leaking? Which requires the cams being locked in place? The belts are due in January so it can wait till then if that's the case.

Cheers

 

[Maidens1979]

I’m not massively clued up on the F4R just yet, but if it’s leaking from the cam cover then shouldn’t it be as simple as removing it and fitting a new gasket? Could be wrong like.

 

[Sam E]

I’m not massively clued up on the F4R just yet, but if it’s leaking from the cam cover then shouldn’t it be as simple as removing it and fitting a new gasket? Could be wrong like.

The cam covers hold the cams in place on the F4R so you need to lock the cam timing in order to remove the cover and replace the gasket AFAIK.

 

[Foxspeed]

it doesnt have a gasket.....it uses a sealant between the cam carrier top and head....

before jumping in & doing lots of potentially unnecessary work...clean off the effected areas and then monitor it to actually see where its coming from

 

[19Zen]

It's worth checking your cam sensor seal, it's the other side of the inlet manifold from where you've highlighted but the oil can run and pool across the manifold. Mine weeps a bit so use a bit of silicone sealant now and then, until I find a replacement o ring which fits snug. The first time my sensor leaked the manifold had a lot of oil gathering there and it also dripped onto the loom running to the rear.

Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk

 

[Sam E]

it doesnt have a gasket.....it uses a sealant between the cam carrier top and head....

before jumping in & doing lots of potentially unnecessary work...clean off the effected areas and then monitor it to actually see where its coming from

You learn something new everyday! I've bought a new inlet manifold gasket so I can take the upper manifold off and clean everything up. Hopefully it's just weeping from a couple of the bolts in which case I'll put a dab on silicone under the heads and retorque which seems to be the common 'fix'.

It's worth checking your cam sensor seal, it's the other side of the inlet manifold from where you've highlighted but the oil can run and pool across the manifold. Mine weeps a bit so use a bit of silicone sealant now and then, until I find a replacement o ring which fits snug. The first time my sensor leaked the manifold had a lot of oil gathering there and it also dripped onto the loom running to the rear.

Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk

I'll look into this too, when I changed the oil last week the oil on the undertray was further back than I remembered and upon inspection the back of the block is quite oily too, so the oil running along the loom to the rear could explain that too.

 

[19Zen]

I have a slight leak around the back of the block on the O/S which makes it's way to the undertray, I think it's the head gasket on that corner.

If the cam sensor seal is leaking onto the loom it would most likely run past the block and I found ended up on the undertray and lower gearbox mount.

As suggested, clean everything up and then give it a run and reinspect.

Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk