Fiesta 1.25 Zetec SE
Discussion
My wife's Fiesta has developed an annoying oil leak and any suggestions as to cause would be gratefully received.
The car is an R reg Fiesta with the 1.25 Zetec engine (which is a lovely engine) and has done about 30,000 mimles.
For some months now the car has been leaking a few drops of oil onto the drive, the oil appears to come from under the timing cover. I have had a general look around the area and cannot see anything obvious. The local garage have removed the timing cover and ancilliary bits, checked it over and put it back together. This has made no difference except to make me £80 poorer.
Before I consider changing the camshaft oil seals, the crankshaft oil seal, the head gasket etc I thought I would call upon the collective knowledge of Pistonheads to see if anyone knows of any common leak problems with this engine. Or whether anyone knows of any pressure regulating valves that stick etc. I don't think there is a crankcase ventilation valve on these engines?
Any ideas?
The car is an R reg Fiesta with the 1.25 Zetec engine (which is a lovely engine) and has done about 30,000 mimles.
For some months now the car has been leaking a few drops of oil onto the drive, the oil appears to come from under the timing cover. I have had a general look around the area and cannot see anything obvious. The local garage have removed the timing cover and ancilliary bits, checked it over and put it back together. This has made no difference except to make me £80 poorer.
Before I consider changing the camshaft oil seals, the crankshaft oil seal, the head gasket etc I thought I would call upon the collective knowledge of Pistonheads to see if anyone knows of any common leak problems with this engine. Or whether anyone knows of any pressure regulating valves that stick etc. I don't think there is a crankcase ventilation valve on these engines?
Any ideas?
Thanks for the response.
The leaking fluid looks and smells like engine oil. If it was power steering fluid I would hope that the garage would have spotted it, but I have been disappointed before when trusting others to do a good job.
It is one of those annoying leaks. It is just a few drops but over time makes a nasty mess on the drive. The oil level does not appear to drop significantly on the dipstick. From wherever the leak is the oil drops onto the crankshaft pulley and then gets thrown around the front end so is distributed liberally making tracing the source difficult.
The dilemma is whether to persist in trying to trace it, and whether it is worth fixing. It takes long enough to strip down the timing covers and associated bits, if you then have to remove and replace the timing belt, and start changing the various oil seals it becomes quite a major job. But equally, if whatever seal is leaking fails completely then the loss of oil could have serious consequences.
I shouldn't complain really, this is the first mechanical problem I have had on any car for at least ten years.
The leaking fluid looks and smells like engine oil. If it was power steering fluid I would hope that the garage would have spotted it, but I have been disappointed before when trusting others to do a good job.
It is one of those annoying leaks. It is just a few drops but over time makes a nasty mess on the drive. The oil level does not appear to drop significantly on the dipstick. From wherever the leak is the oil drops onto the crankshaft pulley and then gets thrown around the front end so is distributed liberally making tracing the source difficult.
The dilemma is whether to persist in trying to trace it, and whether it is worth fixing. It takes long enough to strip down the timing covers and associated bits, if you then have to remove and replace the timing belt, and start changing the various oil seals it becomes quite a major job. But equally, if whatever seal is leaking fails completely then the loss of oil could have serious consequences.
I shouldn't complain really, this is the first mechanical problem I have had on any car for at least ten years.
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