My 1.3 Mk2 saloon has an oil leak from the head, just above the alternator. After searching this forum it appears to be quite a common fault. I do hve some questions before attempting a repair/bodge.

1. The head gasket was changed by the previous owner a couple of thousand miles ago, will it need done again? They never had the head skimmed but someone told me it could be the block thats warped!! I thought this could only happen if the car overheated.

2. Has anyone got any experience with those stop leak oil additives?

3. There is some smoke coming off the manifold due to the oil leak, how much of a fire risk is this?

4. Whould it be a bad idea to tighten the head bolts up a little more?

cheers in advance.

mike

The location of the leak is where the main oil gallery from the block to the head runs. The gasket has a rubber seal built into it which seals this. It could be that the new gasket wasn't fitted properly or the seal was knocked out? Or it could be that the head or block is warped but I think you'd get other symtoms too such as any number of: oil mixing with water, low compression, excessive water and/or oil conumpsion etc...etc...

In any case the cure is going to be replacing the gasket again. You can check the flatness of the head and block to a certain extent using a steel ruler and a torch. Hold the ruler flat thin edge down on the head/block and shine the torch behind it. If you can see any bits of light getting underneath then it's because of warpage. Hardly mega accurate but about all you can do at home.

2. Never used any myself but it seems like a bodge. If it's blocking the leak, what else might it block in the engine?

3. Technically speaking the exhaust manifold wont get hot enough to ignite the oil (only make it smoke off) but it's not something I'd want to risk. Plus a stay spark from a dodgy ignition lead or something could potentially ignite the oil vapour.

4. Hard to check really, over-tightening wont do any good and the bolts are finished off to an angle rather than certain torque so I'm not sure how you'd go about testing them? Maybe someone else knows?

Cheers dude,

I'm probably going to change the gasket when I have the money/time.

According to the dipstick i'm not losing too much oil but looking under the bonnet it seems quite severe, WTF?

Also, do you recon an oil change could calm the leak down? Its something a friend suggested.

Cheers again.

Mike

don't see why an oil change would make any difference. Unless you put a thicker oil in which I wouldn't really recommend.

Used oil is messy stuff, a little bit leaked out still causes a big mess.

Another reason to sort this out is that the oil getting into the alternator will kill it eventually so you'll then end up having to get a new alternator as well.

don't see why an oil change would make any difference. Unless you put a thicker oil in which I wouldn't really recommend.

Used oil is messy stuff, a little bit leaked out still causes a big mess.

Another reason to sort this out is that the oil getting into the alternator will kill it eventually so you'll then end up having to get a new alternator as well.

OK, thanks for the advice, i'll try and get it fixed ASAP.

Much worse than the fire risk is the gases that you'll be breathing in.

IMO overtightening the head bolts will not prevent the leak but is likely to cause others if you crush the gasket beyond it's working tolerance.

To fix depends what you want to acheive. If you aint bothered about the oil leak itself, just the results, then you could whack a load of silicone sealant or similar across the edge and try and get the leak to run somewhere else. Only problem is that it's likely to be the cambelt instead of the alternator, which aint particularly good.

Otherwise HG will need to be done again.