Recently my old 1.6 Feliclia (104,000 miles) was seen to have a slight oil leak on the off side between the head and the block, no problem at that time, car running prefectly normal although she does use a little oil. Now though, this leak has increased and we have drips of oil being left wherever we go; car is still running sweatly. Has anyone out there experienced same and if so, apart from taking the head off and replacing gasket, is there anything sinister we should be looking for? Look forward to seeing your comments.

it might be coming out of the distributor, or there is also an oil gallery plug where they stake a ball bearing into the end of the cylinder head and they sometimes leak...

other that that, it will be a head off job, arrowed in the pic is the oil feed to the cylinder head from the engine block, as you can see it is close to the edge and they do often leak.

edit: btw, the arrow bit is the timing belt end

Tom,

Thanks for your reply. As regards the distributor, the leak is on the opposite end of the block. If going by your arrow, this this the left front end of the block as you stand and look at it then you may have the solution. The oil is coming from an area of the gasket in this region. The engine is a 1.6 VW and there is no current no mixture between oil and water within the system. So if this ball bearing has become ceased for some reason could normal engine pressuref orce out oil from the weakest point this being the gasket?

no, the ball there wouldn't be enough pressure to force the ball out, the ball doesn't act as a valve it is merely there to seal off the oil gallery hole left after casting... in fact ome of these cylinder heads don't even have one..

the gasket itself is a laminated pressed steel type and they don't normally break down over time, the most likely cause is corrosion on the deck

Tom,

Thanks for your thoughts.

Have found the problem!!!!! In time honoured fashion always go for the easiest solution first - in this case the oil pressure switch was the problem which was leaking into the rubber cap which then dropped the oil onto the head region. Simple remedy - replace switch and wash down - no further leaks.