Nightmare!? Too much oil??

[Sparey]

Smoke behind and a large oil leak under the bonnet!! Seams to be coming out from the air box at the jubilee clip right at the front of the car near the drivers side headlamp!? Oil inside air box pipe. Is this the sign of a major or minor problem? Oil light is on, on the display. Drove car back home about 5miles and seamed ok!? Pressure was dropping though.
Thanks,
Steve.

[Storer]

Sorry to not be more specific but this does not sound good.

Do NOT drive the car until you have spoken to a specialist AJP repairer.

If you have recently overfilled the engine then this may be the result but you have done some damage to get this effect. Call your local specialist.

[Sparey]

Emmm. Thought so!! What could it be then!? Not that great with cars - just like driving them!
Steve.

[carl_w]

The crank case breather vents into the driver's side airbox. Although the AJP does breathe heaviliy, you shouldn't have enough in there to cause a major oil leak. And the oil pressure light being on is a worry, but what's on the gauge is more important.

[Gazzab]

What was the pressure dropping to (at idle and under load) ?
Did you drive it with oil light on and pressure dropping? Dont even start it!

[BCA]

As has been said, the oil coming through the front intake/ in the drivers side airbox is from the oil breather catch tank, its crap - tiny and is remarkably easy to fill even when at the correct level of oil. I suspect its just being filled as the excess oil is pumped through, that would also cause the oil pressure to slowly reduce, though hopefully it is a little high as a result? I'd expect that to be fine once the correct amount of oil is in there.

The oil light is a worry, and overfilling with oil isnt great (though I'd much prefer to overfil than run low in any car) but I shouldnt think its anything too horrific. I hope?

[stuthemong]

As said, catch tank has probably overflowed. If this dripped some oil onto your exhaust then you'd get lots of white smoke. I guess you have to check the breather pipes etc. and make sure they aren't blocked or anything. Oil light is worry - surely you had pressure though, you'd have stopped if it dropped, no?

The oil light will illuminate on ignition start, but should be out when engine is running.

Edited by stuthemong on Sunday 9th August 22:05

[kevin63]

Could it be the oil pressure relief valve spring thats gone?

[carl_w]

I remember the guy on here who had an unexplained oil light illumination on his Cerb, pressure seemed fine on the gauge so he continued to drive it. It was only when the battery went flat that he realized that (a) the big fuse had gone, and (b) some muppet at the factory had wired up his oil pressure and alternator warning lights the wrong way round

[jesfirth]

that happened to me. I dont want to scare you but it was a rebuild job. good luck and hope it isnt this for you.

[ridds]

Yep, smoke out exhaust, in engine bay and oil pressure dropping is a sure sign of engine failure I'm afraid.

Most likely a holed piston.

[RUSSELLM]

ridds said:

Yep, smoke out exhaust, in engine bay and oil pressure dropping is a sure sign of engine failure I'm afraid.

Most likely a holed piston.

Think he said smoke out of the back.

Combined with the excess oil in the engine bay (breather), as mentioned earlier, it's most likely oil dropping on to the exhaust pipe.

Panic ye not

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by RUSSELLM on Monday 10th August 10:25

[Sparey]

Thanks all - although I may be even more worried now! Rang my contact at Sportmotive in Stoke this a.m. and am awaiting his reply. Will keep you posted!

[GreenV8S]

Sparey said:

Oil light is on, on the display. Drove car back home about 5miles

Driving the car (even just running the engine for more than a few seconds) with suspect oil supply problems is a very bad idea. Even quite minor problems causing to loss of oil pressure can lead to very expensive damage if you keep running it.

I hope it turns out to be something minor, but from the symptoms it could very well be new engine time, and the longer the engine is run like this the greater the risk of damage.

[ridds]

RUSSELLM said:

ridds said:

Yep, smoke out exhaust, in engine bay and oil pressure dropping is a sure sign of engine failure I'm afraid.

Most likely a holed piston.

Think he said smoke out of the back.

Combined with the excess oil in the engine bay (breather), as mentioned earlier, it's most likely oil dropping on to the exhaust pipe.

Panic ye not

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by RUSSELLM on Monday 10th August 10:25

What if that smoke was whilst stationary? How does it get to the back.

I'm ever the optimist but this sounds a little serious too me.