Hi, I started having oil problems a few months ago and having time to top up oil every 3 to 4 weeks. The garage found there was oil pooling under the rocker cover. They cleaned it all up and told me to keep an eye on it.

Its still happening and last week the oil pressure light came on. I managed to put in 2 litres straight away and tried to drive it home. 6 miles on the overheating warning light came on and smoke from under bonnet. Pulled up in safe area immediately. Had to get rescue truck to get it to the garage. On examination underneath oil in pan under engine. Oil pooled in rocker cover again. Mechanic now seems to hebstumped where the leak is coming from, how its escsping etc... all the usual culprit areas/ source of leaks seem to drawing a blank !!

Ideas anyone?

Might be bad pcv or perhaps clogged oil seperator. What engine have you.

Alasdair

1.4

How serious are those 2 issues you mentioned?

@Ronnie68 what is it, a 1.4 16 84 ps or a vRS Twincharger

The 1.4 16 84 ps

I really don't like the sound of 'overheating warning and smoke from under hood' !

How many miles since last top up had it done to use more than 2 litres ?

I topped it up just over 2 weeks earlier 'chk oil level' light came on again. Must have been around 200 - 300 in that time before I put the extra 2 litres in begire I had to get rescued

I don't understand your comment in your first post - 'oil pooling under rocker cover' do you mean the oil was not draining back to the engine sump from the top of the engine ?

If oil seperator gets blocked or PCV( Think its a diaphram one) is bad it can lead to excessive pressure and force oil out. Normally at weakest point/seal. I agree with warrior Overheating and smoke is not good. I assume it was oil temp warning. If seperator and pcv are ok it could be blocked oil return passage ways so oil isnt managing to get back to sump. I think with engine running there should be a slight vaccum at oil filler cap. If it feels like pressure then I would get the seperator/pcv checked. Might be worth a compression test as well.

Alasdair

59 minutes ago, Warrior193 said:

I don't understand your comment in your first post - 'oil pooling under rocker cover' do you mean the oil was not draining back to the engine sump from the top of the engine ?

That's what's confusing...pooling under rocker cover. The oil only found in pan below engine last week when oil pressure light came on. Mechanic is totally stumped.

Probably one of the seals between rocker cover and head failed in one of the spark plug wells.

Not a nice job to fix that as it's a sealant gasket, and the cambelts need to come off to remove the rocker cover, I think, judging by this image:

There will be a problem causing crankcase pressurisation too, I think, most likely the oil separator on the back of the block being clogged to buggery.

Probably worth replacing that, cleaning everything up and then seeing which plug well fills up, and how fast.

1 hour ago, Alasdair1 said:

If oil seperator gets blocked or PCV( Think its a diaphram one) is bad it can lead to excessive pressure and force oil out. Normally at weakest point/seal. I agree with warrior Overheating and smoke is not good. I assume it was oil temp warning. If seperator and pcv are ok it could be blocked oil return passage ways so oil isnt managing to get back to sump. I think with engine running there should be a slight vaccum at oil filler cap. If it feels like pressure then I would get the seperator/pcv checked. Might be worth a compression test as well.

Alasdair

That one came on so pulled over atraight away

Oh, it's a diesel?

Ignore my previous post completely then.

Edited 16 minutes ago16 min by Breezy_Pete

The OP posted that it is a 1.4 16 valve 84 ps. That is not a diesel so no glow plugs.