197 Using oil

[BenW]

My 197 seems to be developing a bit of an appetite for oil, when I bought it the level wouldn't drop at all between services.

After it's 4 year service it's really started to drink oil, not sure on the amount but would guess its around a litre every 5k miles.

The performance isn't affected and im not finding puddles of oil on the driveway and not seeing blue smoke from the exhaust. There is a small leak from the rocker cover which seems to be quite common on the 197 but I'm not sure this can account for the amount of oil usage I'm seeing?

 

[Fernandez]

I had the rocker leak and it drank syrup like george best in a brewery.

Easiest way to tell is to remove your spark plugs and see if they are oily. I had mine done under warranty but they said it would have cost around £1000 in parts and labour. If it happened out of warranty id consider spending another 400 and go for the ktec cam package instead as they would have take rocker off and use a new seal anyway.

 

[BenW]

Interesting, so replacing the gasket completely solved the oil drinking problem? Didn't think the leak looked bad enough to be the sole problem.

I'm due a cambelt change in 3 months anyway, don't think the extra cost would be too bad if the rocket gasket was changed at the same time.

I think I read somewhere on here about retorquing the rocket bolts to stop/slow down the oil leak.....anyone have any details?

 

[Foxspeed]

if it was leaking a litre of oil over the engine it would be smoking!!!!

the rocker cover "gasket" is actually a bead of sealant...

have you thought of changing the make of oil used?

but 1ltr in 5000m is nothing i think in the manual its got to be down to 650m/ltr :001_rolleyes:

 

[BenW]

Cheers Si, the problem did become obvious when I went from elf oil to motul, planning on changing again at the service in march.

Do you know anything about tightening the rocker cover to slow down/stop the leak?

 

[Foxspeed]

Cheers Si, the problem did become obvious when I went from elf oil to motul, planning on changing again at the service in march.

Do you know anything about tightening the rocker cover to slow down/stop the leak?

i had one of the bolts near to no1 spark plug hole - i just unscrewed it - gave it a wipe and then used a very thin smear of clear sealant and screwed back down - never been a problem since

if its leaking in to the spark plug holes (from the seal round the top of the holes) i would say its a full re-seal job!

 

[BenW]

Cheers, will check it out!