Oil Leak Advice

[mowog]

While at Le Mans noticed suspicious oil leak from my S3. Rocker gaskets seem quite leaky but the oil seems to be tracking down to on top of the first flat section of the exhaust.

It is then dropping to the floor or blowing back to the rear body (which now has a thin coating of oil).

I suspect that it is the rocker gaskets and it is definitely engine oil.

Is is possible for oil to find its way to the exhaust from the rocker gaskets or should I be looking elsewhere ?

In the meantime I'll replace the rocker gaskets anyway to see if things improve.

Thanks
Darren

[dern]

Is is possible for oil to find its way to the exhaust from the rocker gaskets or should I be looking elsewhere ?

Possibly but mine tended to leak on to the manifolds and smoked before they got any further. Change them first though as it's by far the easiest thing to try. Then clean the engine and see if any more appears and try to trace that. If you get the gaskets from ford they will have small metal cylinder inserts around the bolt holes which make it much harder to over torque the bolts and squash the new gaskets which will cause them to leak again.

Regards,

Mark

[Lurch]

Just replaced the rocker gasket seals on mine. Oil had spread surprisingly far underneath, and had made it just beyond the downpipes. Agree that changing them and giving the underneath a good clean would ID it.

On the plus side, things coated in oil do not rust!

[haggishead]

mine is exactly the same - but bear in mind also that the crankshaft rear oil seal on the 2.8 / 2.9 engine is prone to wear, and leaks down the back of the sump -cure is either

(a) remove gearbox and flywheel and replace seal; or

(b) clean it a lot; or

(c) try one of those "expand oil seals for a bit until they leak again even worse than before" additives. The car salesman's friend...