I'm servicing my sister's 500 and have fitted new plugs, coil pack , oil , oil filter
and air filter. I ran the engine for a while to ensure the filter and sump drain plug
were leak free and whilst I was under the car making these checks I spotted a few drips of fresh clean
oil coming from the front of the engine, quite high up and between cylinder 1 and 2 just where the exhaust
manifold joins the cylinder head.
An oil leak had been mentioned on last year's MOT so I wanted to find out where it was coming from.
To get a better view of this zone I removed the exhaust heat shield and using a mirror and torch
tried to peer between each branch of the exhaust manifold focussing on cylinders 1 and 2 , with the
engine running , but I could see no oil leaking although there is a coating of oil on the upper zone of the engine in this zone.
There is no oil coming from the camshaft gasket so I'm puzzled as to it's source. I'm wondering
if there's a crack in the cast iron block , or an oil core plug that I cannot see behind the exhaust
manifold that may be leaking. When I started this job the oil stains in this problem zone were black , much like
the engine oil I drained out. I spent some time cleaning off this old staining but now the oil leak I'm seeing is clear pale gold , much like the new oil !
If anyone can offer some advice I will be very grateful as I would like to cure this before
I take it for it's next MOT.
and air filter. I ran the engine for a while to ensure the filter and sump drain plug
were leak free and whilst I was under the car making these checks I spotted a few drips of fresh clean
oil coming from the front of the engine, quite high up and between cylinder 1 and 2 just where the exhaust
manifold joins the cylinder head.
An oil leak had been mentioned on last year's MOT so I wanted to find out where it was coming from.
To get a better view of this zone I removed the exhaust heat shield and using a mirror and torch
tried to peer between each branch of the exhaust manifold focussing on cylinders 1 and 2 , with the
engine running , but I could see no oil leaking although there is a coating of oil on the upper zone of the engine in this zone.
There is no oil coming from the camshaft gasket so I'm puzzled as to it's source. I'm wondering
if there's a crack in the cast iron block , or an oil core plug that I cannot see behind the exhaust
manifold that may be leaking. When I started this job the oil stains in this problem zone were black , much like
the engine oil I drained out. I spent some time cleaning off this old staining but now the oil leak I'm seeing is clear pale gold , much like the new oil !
If anyone can offer some advice I will be very grateful as I would like to cure this before
I take it for it's next MOT.
- Model
- 500 , 1.2 , 69 bhp
- Year
- 2010
- Mileage
- 100000
