8 replies to this topic

[blackmini]

Hi All,

I have a 1380 mini and have a pretty bad leak coming from the oil filler cap.
The oil begins to leaks when the engine warms up and it leaks a lot, it oozes out
in large quantities.

When starting the car there is a little smoke coming from the filler cap but this
also gets worse as the engine warms up. The amount of smoke is not a huge
amount but it is still obvious.

I have searched about the forum and can't find anyone that's had a similar problem.
Will be booking in the car first thing Monday but needed to find out if its safe to
drive the car if I keep topping up?

Thanks in advance.

[Calman]

Im don't know what it could be, but if its leaking to much that you have to keep topping it up, i wouldnt want to take the risk. How much do you lose roughly over say, 5 miles?

Might give others a scale to the problem...

[blackmini]

Im don't know what it could be, but if its leaking to much that you have to keep topping it up, i wouldnt want to take the risk. How much do you lose roughly over say, 5 miles?

Might give others a scale to the problem...

Hard to say but I would say a cup of oil every few miles?

[Calman]

I dont know if the problem is damagin, but so long as you mae sure o keep it topped up you'll rule out seizing it up at least...

[SMP]

Firstly check that it's not over full with oil.

Is the oil filler cap damaged?

next thing is are the breathers blocked? If you have pipes to the breathers you could try blowing down them to check not blocked - just don't get oil in your mouth etc!

If you don't find anything above - which you should be able to do in minutes - I wouldn't drive. Shouldn't have that much crankcase pressure. Could be a few things - head gasket - warped head - knackered rings - you'll have to do more investigation.

If you keep driving and there is high pressure you could get oil blowing past one of the seals on the crank - into the clutch or out timing chain cover.

Steve

[blackmini]

Firstly check that it's not over full with oil.

Is the oil filler cap damaged?

next thing is are the breathers blocked? If you have pipes to the breathers you could try blowing down them to check not blocked - just don't get oil in your mouth etc!

If you don't find anything above - which you should be able to do in minutes - I wouldn't drive. Shouldn't have that much crankcase pressure. Could be a few things - head gasket - warped head - knackered rings - you'll have to do more investigation.

If you keep driving and there is high pressure you could get oil blowing past one of the seals on the crank - into the clutch or out timing chain cover.

Steve

The oil filler cap seems fine and the oil level at the moment is exactly on the min line.

Sorry, but not too sure what the breathers are but I think I have filters on the breathers? I've attached a picture of the engine.

Attached Files

•  engine.jpg   1.14MB   22 downloads

Edited by blackmini, 20 December 2009 - 03:21 PM.

[il-barba]

is it going up the dipstick hole?

could it be a draining issue of oil back to the sump?

[Sprocket]

Excessive blow by

[CobraV8]

Sorry - I am inclined to agree with Sprocket, most likely to be some damaged rings in there. Engine out and overhaul time unfortunately.