Help Oil down side of engine.

[Barrington]

Hi guys need advice again please today i lifted the drivers side seat to check power steering fluid and found engine oil down the whole side of the engine block slight drip at bottom of block black oil so i know its engine oil,, casket problem maybe???? cheers guys barrington,

[mister munkey]

Can you get some pics up?

[Barrington]

At mates at mo but wil try later to get pics up chris,

[dave_aber]

Sounds like the sort of 'slick' you can get from the EGR, but a lot more of it.

Best bet is to get pics up so we can offer opinions, and wash the engine down with gunk, then check regularly to see where it's starting from.

Is it as high as the camshaft cover?

[Barrington]

Thanks dave heres pics not fantastic but best i coul do sorry,
THe black crud is all the full lenght of the engine!

[missfixit70]

Looks like the usual leak from the air inlet manifold from egr & or rocker cover breather, possibly topped up with a bit of a rocker cover gasket leak, nowt to worry about, just means you got a "proper" bongo
Out of interest have you got a leak on the steering rack at all? again reasonably common & that oil gets blown backwards, gets everywhere & turns black pretty quick which could be adding to it?

[Barrington]

Sigh of relife,,, thanks kirsty, will have to check the steering rack out? egr? what do i need to do if anything? cheers kirsty, ps only leaking on this side

[dave_aber]

Blank it off. Kits are available from Allan's.

Basically a pair of metal gaskets with no hole in the middle. Fiddly to fit, especially the rear one. Good instructions with the kit though. Possibly could be made easier if you whip off the rear engine cover, where your heater duct comes through - if you can face the finger shredding plate again!!

EGR's needed to pass Japanese emission tests, not needed here. In theory blanking off can improve economy, and stops the oily slick appearing on the side of the engine.....

[missfixit70]

Basically it's probably coming from the air inlet manifold joints - very slight weeps, if you run the engine you may be able to just see it bubbling on the joints. This (IMO) is either coming from the egr or the crankcase breather that feeds into the air inlet pre turbo.
You could blank the egr (factsheet in members area), but it didn't really stop the oil leaks with mine (removed it completely), TBH I think it's more down to the crankcase breather, if you pop the hose off (on the drivers side feeding down to the air inlet ducting around the back of the engine) feel inside & it'll probably be oily, this gets blown sucked into the turbo, blown through the intercooler (slowly gunging that up over 15 years) & then into the engine.
You could fit a catch tank in the breather line, I've got one waiting to go on (more major issues to deal with first though ) it's probably worth whipping the intercooler off too & degunking it, with some paraffin or something, mine was fairly manky when I did it last year.

[Barrington]

Very informative thank you both, i think for now i will just de gunk the system and de grease the enging block thank you both really simply explained (thats what i need simple to follow instructions
oh the finger dave thats still killing me and now its curled up like a quaver the tendons have shrunk,

[dave_aber]

Ouch.

At least it's back to the right colour now!

[Northern Bongolow]

what engine oil are you on please,ive noticed that egr gunk increases with certain grades of oil.

[Barrington]

Ouch.

At least it's back to the right colour now!

yeah right colour dave wrong shape

[Barrington]

what engine are you on please,ive noticed that egr gunk increases with certain grades of oil.

oil i use is 10w 40 2.5 turbo diesel,

[Northern Bongolow]

if you use 5w 30 ,semi sythetic,as long as you havnt done massive miliage,it will stop it.
and the service intervals will be better. and your mpg should improve.