Massive oil leak from front of engine

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dch_control
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Massive oil leak from front of engine

Post by dch_control » Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:58 pm

My 2005 D3 had a reconditioned engine fitted at the beginning of this year and has been running very well until yesterday. I went on a 150-mile round mile trip and when I arrived home, I noticed I was leaving behind a substantial slick of black oil. The oil warning light never came on but a quick check showed the engine oil level was below the dipstick, and it took over a litre of oil to get it just up the first mark.

There is no evidence of any leaks at the top of the engine, or around the turbo area, but there was lots of oil in the engine undertray and this had spilled over the edge and plastered the underside of the car. With the engine running, I find there is oil streaming from the front of the engine, low down in the region of the crankshaft pulley. There is a drain hole in the bottom of the timing cover and it's not clear if it is coming from there or from behind the timing cover.

Is this likely to be an oil pump issue or what else might it be? I should say, the oil was checked at the weekend and was right up to the top mark, and it has not used or leaked a drop until yesterday.



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Re: Massive oil leak from front of engine

Post by Bodsy » Fri Jun 23, 2017 11:16 am

Sounds like the seal on the oil pump. If it was a recon engine, did they use the cheap bearmach oil pump. That's known to leak at the seal.

What guarantee did the recon come with? Who did it?


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Re: Massive oil leak from front of engine

Post by dch_control » Sat Jun 24, 2017 10:54 am

Thanks for your reply, Bodsy. I don't know what oil pump they used. The engine was reconditioned and fitted by Joe Shortt of Sharp's Automotive in Cradley Heath. They seemed to have done a good job and came across as a very professional outfit. While the body was off, they serviced the park brake module for me and replaced the brake pipes that almost failed the MOT and which are so difficult to get at when the body is on, both at a very reasonable cost. The car had been valeted inside and out when I went to collect it and the engine has been behaving perfectly until this happened.

It came with a 12-month warranty, so I emailed Joe immediately with details of what happened. He responded very quickly and thinks it is most likely a failure of the crankshaft oil seal, although it must be quite some failure to occur so suddenly and to leak so much oil.

Anyway, he is making arrangements to have the vehicle transported to their works so it can be investigated and fixed under warranty. I'll let you know the outcome.

In case you are wondering why I needed an engine in the first place (at only 100K miles), it was all down to a glowplug tip that fell off and did an amazing amount of damage to piston, valves, head and turbo. That in turn was put down to a failed attempt a couple of years earlier to extract the seized glowplug by various means, which probably weakened it - a futile and costly exercise.



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Re: Massive oil leak from front of engine

Post by dch_control » Wed Jul 19, 2017 10:35 am

Well, I can now describe what had happened, and tell you of my ongoing tale of woe. For various reasons it took a while to get the vehicle back to Joe Shortt, but he soon found that the oil leak was down to the fact that the front crankshaft oil seal had popped clean out of the oil pump. He ordered a new seal, which he expected to fix the problem, but unfortunately this also popped out.

The oil pump that was fitted when the engine was reconditioned was not a genuine LR one, but not Bearmach (I don't know the actual make). However, at this point, Joe decided that the bore in the pump that takes the seal is probably out of tolerance, as the fit of a new genuine seal doesn't seem right. So last Friday, he fitted a genuine LR pump and seal and all seemed well. He was going to use the vehicle for a few days to make sure there were no further issues and I bought train tickets ready to go and pick it up today.

As a final test, he took the vehicle down to Heathrow and managed to blow the engine up on the M25. There was no oil leak, so we don't yet know what has happened, but it's back at their works being ready to be stripped down and find out what has happened. Joe reckons it sounded like a bearing failure, probably a big-end, so I anxiously await news.

It's all very worrying, but on a positive note, I have to say Joe is certainly honouring his warranty obligations without question. I'll post again when I finally get the vehicle back.



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Re: Massive oil leak from front of engine

Post by Stu » Sat Jul 22, 2017 8:35 am

Oh wow. That's not good but sounds like you're being looked after.


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Re: Massive oil leak from front of engine

Post by PillowSmuggler » Sat Jul 22, 2017 1:30 pm

Not sure why the oil seal would have been popping out in the first place - That only has crank case pressure behind it doesn't it? Does that point to a blocked PCV system, or perhaps a leaky piston ring?


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Re: Massive oil leak from front of engine

Post by dch_control » Wed Jul 26, 2017 2:07 pm

Those were my first questions to him. He checked the ventilation system and said it was all good, in which case, he reckons even a broken ring shouldn't cause the system to pressurise. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for news on what exactly had gone wrong. Watch this space!



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Re: Massive oil leak from front of engine

Post by dch_control » Tue Sep 05, 2017 4:43 pm

It can't get any worse than this.

It's now coming up for 11 weeks since the oil leak occurred and I'm still without my vehicle. The alleged breakdown on the trip to Heathrow was down to a broken crankshaft. I say "alleged" because I just don't know whether to believe a word this guy has told me now.

After several weeks of refusing to answer phone, text or email messages he finally emailed me to apologise for the delay and said the vehicle would be ready to return to me by Thursday 24th August. It wasn't returned so I emailed and posted a letter giving him one week to return the vehicle or to buy it from me, before taking whatever steps are necessary to recover my loss.

He still won't respond to messages, and he no longer seems to be working from his known premises. So from my point of view, he has disappeared and taken my vehicle with him. My insurers are sympathetic and would settle a claim for theft if I can give them a police crime number. The police say it is unlikely that a crime has been committed as he didn't take the vehicle without my consent so they won't give it a crime number, although it might be fraud if he had no intention of returning it (difficult to prove).

So it looks like I'm on my own as I set about tracking down the whereabouts of the company, the individual and my Discovery, before dragging him through the courts to try and get some justice. Clearly, I now withdraw my earlier comments about his professionalism, and instead of recommending him to you, I advise that you steer clear of him at all costs.

And if there are any legal professionals out there who have any advice on the best way to proceed, I would love to hear from you!

David.



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Re: Massive oil leak from front of engine

Post by Bodsy » Tue Sep 05, 2017 7:32 pm

He's on Facebook.....

IMG_5014.JPG
You should go to his profile and then make a note of all the friends. Do the same of his wife.

Then post on his wall to contact you the thieving scumbag.
Then he'll likely block you....

Then start posting on his friends walls the Same message and he'll soon get the idea.....

If you search long enough, you can probably find his home and where he drinks.
It's amazing what you can find out on Facebook.


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Re: Massive oil leak from front of engine

Post by Bodsy » Tue Sep 05, 2017 7:37 pm

Or the marriage certificate....
IMG_5015.JPG

Or looking into her father who was a big cheese at Ford, it could get quite embarrassing for him.......


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