1. Home
  2. Car Maintenance
  3. Oil leak on Omega

Oil leak on Omega

Wonder if anyone's got any suggestions:

I couple of weeks back, I noticed that my 2L Omega's fairly clean engine bay had developed a coating of oil all over the lower half of the engine. It had covered pipes, the sump, and been sprayed to further reaches like the subframe on both sides of the engine, and blown back to the gearbox and footwells. The oil level had unsurprisingly dropped to a critical level. I topped it back up and wiped the parts I could reach with a rag in the hope that I'd spot the cause. Unfortunately, it's been hard to pin-point and the oil level hasn't noticeably dropped since then. Curiously, at about the same time, I began to notice a whiring noice coming from the front-nearside corner of the engine bay between the battery and the radiator which I don't remember hearing before. It's quite loud and sounds like a pump spinning, possibly without any fluid. It's only present when starting from cold, and stops abruptly after about a minute.

Any ideas on either? Could they be connected? I've checked oil/water/power steering fluid levels. I'm obviously more concerned about the oil leak - any additional tips on locating the source, or common areas to check?

Thanks

Reply to
Paul
Loading thread data ...

Reply to
Gary Millar

Did it coincide with a period of hard/fast driving? If so, I'd go for blocked engine breathers - a normal leak doesn't usually cure itself. And when the crankcase gets pressurised, oil can leak from several places at once.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

If that is the cheese grater fixed under the rocker cover, It's a very common problem on Cavaliers. Easy to replace if you don't mind getting dirty.

Reply to
DP

You would have thought so wouldn't you? I went to Vauxhall recently to get a rocker cover gasket & `cheese grater', as I was going for my third gasket change (don't ask!). The geezer at the parts desk said that they don't sell the cheese grater. "you have to clean them out mate". I was amazed. Regards. Stu.

Reply to
Stu

The vacuum cleaner type noise you hear immediately upon starting from cold which lasts for around 1-3 mins is the secondary air pump. It pumps air into the exhaust system ahead of the cat at cold start to help warm up the cat and o2 sensor more quickly, and also when the o2 sensor comes online, to fool the ecu into providing a richer mixture to help drivability immediately after cold start.

Tim..

Reply to
Tim..

they sold them a few years ago when i had to change one :)

Reply to
dojj

Its worth checking the breather between the cam cover and crankcase, this was a free retrofit on early models, if this gets blocked it can force oil through front and rear crank shaft seals.

S
Reply to
Steve

IME, all main dealer part departments (bar one), and one Motor Factor in Wrexham specifically (Mate told me to get something from Motor factors. I told him I wasn't going back to that bunch of shitheads. He quite agreed!) are argumentative, bloshy gobshites, who treat retail customers like crap, and try to put as many obstacles in your way to buy something.

I was after a set of rings and big end shells for my Mk 2 1.6 1981 Cavalier SR.

The dodgy one : Well sir, we'd need to know the chassis and engine number, and even then they come in about 15 different sorts.

Local motorfactors : Here you are, that's x pounds please.

Main dealers I've found to be the same, except recently when I wanted 5 litres of Ford 5/30 and a filter for a 2 litre Zetec. Can't really arse round too much with that one!

Pete.

Reply to
Pete Smith

And you'd have been happy with the wrong parts?

You should always have the chassis number when buying from a main dealer - it's how they identify the parts. Unless you expect the assistant to have them all in their head. Motor factors more usually work by year, but if a change was made within that year will often need the old parts to identify them. And remember it's not unusual for a car to be registered the year after it's built.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

And just to add, some will include the purchase of any parts on the car's computerised history.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.