oil leak

[deadly]

i'm just about to buy a chimaera, which is in superb condition, however during its mot the garage said it has a minor oil leak from the sump and the drive shafts are leaking too. is this a disaster?
is it cheap to rectify?? Can anyone please help?

Rich

[jev]

I would be a bit dubious about any oil leak.

Despite what the garage might say, its always a little tricky working out exactly where it comes from.

If the sump, take off sump, new gasket, gasket goo and replace. 50% chance of curing problem, 25% change of having no effect, 25% chance of making it worse.

Can you live with the slight leak if it can't be cured? People with driveways often can't!

Sorry to sound pessemistic. Perhaps others will be more positive.

[Mark.S]

Persuade the current owner to take the car to a specialist of your choosing for an inspection. Better safe than sorry!

[RobM]

it has a minor oil leak from the sump and the drive shafts are leaking too. is this a disaster?
is it cheap to rectify?? Can anyone please help?

Rich

Sump gasket leak is supposed to be 'not uncommon'. Anyway, I had one. And after many dealers saying 'its yer sump gasket sir' it turned out to be pas fluid leak. Of course I found this out after I replaced the common sump gasket. But thats another story. Never had any trouble with driveshafts though :/

[RCA]

Sump gasket is easy to do, It does not have an actual gasket just gasket sealer. Sump off, clean, re-seal, back up!!
When he says driveshafts does he mean actual oil or cv grease??, if its oil then its the diff seals that have probably gone!!, Could be a diff out job which would be fairly expensive.

[jessica]

just fixed a PAS fluid leak on my Chim 500..Was nice and easy just tightened the jubillee clips up on either side of the metal u bend..

Phew..was in a panic thought it was my engine....

[T88CAN]

There have been a number of cases were the sump nut has worked loose causing a leak check out the search
facility also you dont say the age or mileage of the car? IMHO you are bound to find the odd oil leak i dont think it would be to much to worry about
Tony

[mongoose]

if your going to replace the sump gasket,then use a cork one rather than more silicone type sealant.a proper gasket will last longer and give better peice of mind and is cheap to buy and straightforward to replace,just clean off all old sealant first.

[blue streak]

I had very similar oil leaks on mine when I bought it. The engine leak had previously been diagnosed as a sump gasket leak but this did not stop it. Turned out to be leak from the front of the valley, needed to put a new inlet manifold/valley gasket on. It also was leaking a very small amount past the oil pressure warning light sensor. Apparently they have a habit of leaking through the sensor itself. Easy job to do if you have a ramp. Now it's oil tight, moral of the story, often it's a leak from above the sump but it just shows up there.