My dashboard is lying
- Thread starter Merlin5
- Start date
As said already. Get it to a garage and get it checked out.
It will have a leak somewhere and they'll need to get it up on the ramps and try and find where its dripping from.
no point doing that until they find the leak. Otherwise the system is just going to drop all that new coolant on the floor. Its obvious by the fact he keeps filling it up and the level goes back down its got a leak.
If they had done a proper pressure test on the system, at operating temperature, they'd have found it.
I had a leak on my Leon, and the garage was adamant that there was no leak. I even knew where the leak was from, but until they did the above, there was nothing evident from "testing" it.
Yeah I'll get it pressure tested this week.
Had a BIG scare earlier this evening, but fortunately now, all is ok.
Someone on the peugeot forums suggested the possibility of head gasket failure, and that the usual sign of that is water in the oil, making a "mayonnaise type substance on the oil cap and dipstick" as he put it. I'd driven 6 miles to someone today and the 6 miles back. When home, I checked the dipstick based on what he said. But didn't expect this..> no oil! Let the car cool down for half an hour to see if oil would return to the sump and checked it again. Still no oil!
Not a single spec of it. I thought wtf, my mechanic had serviced the car and changed the oil on the 29th april, not 2 weeks ago, and he's been servicing it for years with no issues. So I thought oh great, coolant leak and now oil leak, maybe it is the head gasket. Looked at the road by my car and saw this lovely blue and green oil slick.
http://i.imgur.com/WCmFFAF.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ivv7u4g.jpg
No dodgy engine sounds and no oil warning light so I checked it just in the nick of time.
Called the AA who discovered it was just the oil filter was leaking. I guess my mechanic let me down a bit this time. So he tightened it up, said it had stopped leaking and he drove us to a BP garage to buy oil. Bought a 4L bottle of Magnatec 10w-40 part synthetic for diesel and used up half of it. Checked for leaks again and it was fine. Phew! Seems like I drove the car to within an inch of the engine's life, and had I not checked, there's little doubt I would have blown the engine up tomorrow as I have to take my mum somewhere.
Topped up the water again while AA man was there and he told me to fill it a fait bit higher than that X stem in the middle. So far, no warning messages, but no doubt it'll return. I'm just so glad I checked the oil though. Also, by the colour of the oil on the road, the AA man is confident water hasn't gotten into the engine.
Had a BIG scare earlier this evening, but fortunately now, all is ok.
Someone on the peugeot forums suggested the possibility of head gasket failure, and that the usual sign of that is water in the oil, making a "mayonnaise type substance on the oil cap and dipstick" as he put it. I'd driven 6 miles to someone today and the 6 miles back. When home, I checked the dipstick based on what he said. But didn't expect this..> no oil! Let the car cool down for half an hour to see if oil would return to the sump and checked it again. Still no oil!
Not a single spec of it. I thought wtf, my mechanic had serviced the car and changed the oil on the 29th april, not 2 weeks ago, and he's been servicing it for years with no issues. So I thought oh great, coolant leak and now oil leak, maybe it is the head gasket. Looked at the road by my car and saw this lovely blue and green oil slick.http://i.imgur.com/WCmFFAF.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ivv7u4g.jpg
No dodgy engine sounds and no oil warning light so I checked it just in the nick of time.
Called the AA who discovered it was just the oil filter was leaking. I guess my mechanic let me down a bit this time. So he tightened it up, said it had stopped leaking and he drove us to a BP garage to buy oil. Bought a 4L bottle of Magnatec 10w-40 part synthetic for diesel and used up half of it. Checked for leaks again and it was fine. Phew! Seems like I drove the car to within an inch of the engine's life, and had I not checked, there's little doubt I would have blown the engine up tomorrow as I have to take my mum somewhere.
Topped up the water again while AA man was there and he told me to fill it a fait bit higher than that X stem in the middle. So far, no warning messages, but no doubt it'll return. I'm just so glad I checked the oil though. Also, by the colour of the oil on the road, the AA man is confident water hasn't gotten into the engine.
That is just ridiculous in the first instance btw, also on what is clearly a wet road I would point out.
Sometimes overfilling the header tank can cause pressure problems, and you should really be trying to bleed the system as you fill. Airlocks can do all sorts to coolant levels.
If I were you I'd dump the oil you've just put in, change that and filter again, and check water level daily. Take car for longish runs, don't use the heater until the car is hot and has been running for a while. Check dipstick regularly, every other day.
Soldato
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- 3 Jun 2005
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- West Sussex
No oil at all showing?
I would be worried about damage that has not shown up yet and be getting back onto that mechanic. It is entirely possible that the crankshaft bearings or shells could be damaged from oil starvation. A guy on another forum had this and thought he too got away with it only to have the main bearings go 1500 miles later.
I would inform the mechanic which you can back up from the AA. That will cover you for future problems hopefully.
I would be worried about damage that has not shown up yet and be getting back onto that mechanic. It is entirely possible that the crankshaft bearings or shells could be damaged from oil starvation. A guy on another forum had this and thought he too got away with it only to have the main bearings go 1500 miles later.
I would inform the mechanic which you can back up from the AA. That will cover you for future problems hopefully.
I suppose that's possible. Hope not though.
Far as I can tell, I think I did 12 miles after the oil had leaked. When I checked the dipstick there was no visible oil, although it was a bit greasy to the touch to suggest a thin film of oil barely covering. I don't know, do engines have any sort of tolerance level to no oil for short journeys before doing damage? Shouldn't the oil light have come on?
Putting just 2 litres into the engine where nothing is showing on the dipstick does not strike me as enough......
As for running an engine without oil, it's bad - it's surprising how long they will run with just a small quantity of oil - but not as bad as running it without coolant which would generally prove terminal very much quicker....
It seems odd that you got no oil pressure warning light with nothing / little in the engine, on the other hand, with French electronics, not surprising at all!!
As for running an engine without oil, it's bad - it's surprising how long they will run with just a small quantity of oil - but not as bad as running it without coolant which would generally prove terminal very much quicker....
It seems odd that you got no oil pressure warning light with nothing / little in the engine, on the other hand, with French electronics, not surprising at all!!
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Interesting point you made. Today I checked the dipstick and the oil is maxed on it, in fact, even slightly more than max. This is from using just half of the 4L can. The sump capacity of my car has to be over 4L. If the sump was completely empty, it would have used up the whole can, no? So even though the dipstick showed nothing yesterday and there was oil on the road, there must have been the best part of 2L oil still in the sump or swimming round the engine, surely? When the AA man checked for leaks, he said it was leaking from the oil filter and the leaking stopped when he tightened it, so that means the engine was presumably not bone dry. What else would explain only 2L of oil filling my car up full? That, and the oil light not coming on, I'm going to make the assumption that there was enough oil in the car when I drove it.
Maybe you checked it on a slope?
Normally it's 1-1.5L just between the min & max markings on the dipstick, never mind from dry.
That was my thought, hence the comment.
As said, was the car on a slope? What else would explain it otherwise??
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Not on a slope, no. I asked my mechanic why nothing showed on the dipstick and he said there would have been oil still in the sump, around 2 litres, but below the level of the dipstick. He also said that sometimes oil filters 'settle' after hand tightening and then need retightning.
I honestly don't know. He's been doing it for many years and has serviced my cars for years with no problems. Whether this 'settling' or loosening of the oil filter occurs or whether he's just trying to cover his arse, no idea. Are you a mechanic btw, biohazard? You seem very sure that both the AA man and my mechanic know far less than you. You might be right, so I'm asking.
No, I'm not a qualified mechanic. I have common bloody sense though, "I can tell by looking at your oil slick on this here wet road that your oil isn't contaminated with water". Is got to be one of the most stupid statements I've heard from an AA man yet.
Even better, do you know that you can work for the likes of Greenflag and so on, without even any formal mechanic qualifications. That probably isn't the case for the AA, but again don't expect everyone who turns out for roadside assist to actually know anything, or all mechanics to be equal.
The man has ******** your car, and is now telling you complete myths like "your oil filter needs a special wiggle after I've NOT torqued it correctly!", "dipsticks won't show half your oil level in your sump". and so on.
I'm not having a go at you, I'm having a go at someone who isn't being honest in my opinion. That he's serviced your cars for years is neither here or there when you are confronted with so many issues?
Well the AA man worked in garages as a mechanic for 7 years. Had the oil been contaminated, it would be a creamy colour, so I think (but could be wrong) that it would have shown that even on the road. But it looked perfectly normal. As I say, I could be wrong.
I honestly don't know about the oil filter and level of oil in the sump, but since he's been doing this bread and butter work for years (servicing cars) and never messed up my cars before, I can only assume he knows what he's talking about.
I honestly don't know about the oil filter and level of oil in the sump, but since he's been doing this bread and butter work for years (servicing cars) and never messed up my cars before, I can only assume he knows what he's talking about.
Mayo, and contamination of oil by coolant varies. It isn't oil - hellman's in an instant, and importantly uniformly. You can have quite bad contamination that tends to congregate around certain parts of the crank case etc. I've seen blobs of mayo goo all up and down the dipstick, only for it to all be quite black once it's come out, almost with a 'creamy' wisp through it and froth at the edges. It can go quite mirky too, it just all depends. It isn#t an exact science, which is why I'm somewhat dubious about the scientific nature of oil slicks indicating engine condition.
You ain't gonna make that on on a damp road. You can't tell if oil on the damp ground is perfectly normal or not, you really need to have a look at what comes out into a non (water) contaminated container.
The oil filter should be tightened and that's it. But by all means keep believing the man who's serviced your car into the ground.
He's talking arse about the filter, it clearly wasn't tightened enough and he's covering his backside. However, it's quite possible for there to be a reasonable amount of oil left in the sump after the level has fallen off the end of the dipstick.