Oil Leak? Should I Be Worried?

[andrewjameshoward2]

This looks a tiny oil leak. I'm not using a lot of oil as far as I can see. The car is a well-maintained, owned from new petrol 2.3 Galaxy with about 60,000 miles on the clock. I am attempting to attach 3 photos, at different magnifications. There is a dark stain on the curved join in the centre of the photographs where it looks like something has been seeping out. I am practically-minded but a novice when it comes to car engines. I would have guessed that this join is at the cylinder head. But I'd expect that to be flat not curved. So what is it?

[sparky Paul]

I wouldn't worry too much about that, it doesn't look wet - it might even be a bit of oil tracking around the gasket from spills at the oil filler end, finding the lowest point. I would clean it off first, see if anything develops. The dangly bit looks like a bit of cable binding trapped under the valve cover, I reckon the valve cover gasket itself is rubber.

 

If you did want to replace the gasket, it isn't a hard job. It comes in two pieces, one to go around the circumference of the cover, and another piece with 4 holes in for the spark plug holes.

Edited October 2, 2015 by sparky Paul

[andrewjameshoward2]

Oh, it's the valve cover not the cylinder head? So gasket replacement is a cheap and easy job not the £2k people tell me a head gasket costs?

 

Much obliged for your input.

[sparky Paul]

Definitely not head gasket, that's much lower down - below the exhaust manifold, which is the lump hanging out of the front of the engine with the heat shield over it.

 

The 2.3 is a great engine, bomb proof if serviced properly.

[BrianH]

You might want to consider replacing the gasket if its allowing any oil to leak inside (under the top cover over the coil packs where the spark plugs sit). I've had that problem a few times with Zetec engines used in other fords.

 

And as Paul says its the rocker cover gasket your looking at - should be no more than £20 at most and not particually difficult to do.

[viperclive]

If you look careful the bit hanging out IS the bit of gasket that should be tucked under the cover!

[viperclive]

I retract my last under magnification it appears to be the cable wrapping as previously stated.

[andrewjameshoward2]

The photo is slightly misleading. The cable wrapping is loose and not caught up with the gasket. I've cleaned the oil off and will see if the leak comes back. In itself, it doesn't seem much to worry about.

 

I am interested in the comment about oil leaking internally onto the coil packs. I have an intermittent fault at the moment whereby (a) there can be temporary loss of power at speed (b) sometimes the car won't start, as if I have flooded it, when I'm pretty sure I haven't © once the engine cut out all together on the motorway. After 10 minutes I was able to start it again without any problem. I wondered about some electrical fault, but it turns over fine enough even if it won't start. So then I thought, maybe fuel is intermittently stopped from getting through.

 

My best guess so far was that the engine management system was getting a dodgy message from somewhere, with a sticking brake pedal switch being my current suspect. Is there any chance an oil leak onto the coil packs might be causing it instead?

[BrianH]

The photo is slightly misleading. The cable wrapping is loose and not caught up with the gasket. I've cleaned the oil off and will see if the leak comes back. In itself, it doesn't seem much to worry about.

 

I am interested in the comment about oil leaking internally onto the coil packs. I have an intermittent fault at the moment whereby (a) there can be temporary loss of power at speed ( B) sometimes the car won't start, as if I have flooded it, when I'm pretty sure I haven't © once the engine cut out all together on the motorway. After 10 minutes I was able to start it again without any problem. I wondered about some electrical fault, but it turns over fine enough even if it won't start. So then I thought, maybe fuel is intermittently stopped from getting through.

 

My best guess so far was that the engine management system was getting a dodgy message from somewhere, with a sticking brake pedal switch being my current suspect. Is there any chance an oil leak onto the coil packs might be causing it instead?

 

Swap your relay 30 or pull it out and resolder the connections on the back of it. If it happens again to verify its that causing the problem with starting look at the led on the top of the drivers door - if it flashes differently when you have the issue then the immobiliser isn't being deactivated properly, usually down to the dodgy solder joints on the relay mentioned (theres loads of info on here about it, ask if you don't understand though). I had it fail for the second time on mine particularly when stopping to refuel, resoldered this time and its been fine since.

 

Temporary loss of power could be a few things, doubtful its the relay though, The leak you can see looks fairly minor (slight seepage though an old gasket) and not significant, though i've had it on a Zetec Mondeo where a significant amount of oil ends up on the plugs - more than enough to see easily.

[BrianH]

Also if your drawing a blank on the power loss issue then it may be worth getting an obd diagnostic tool of some sort - needs to be compatible with PWM j 1850 though for the Ford Petrol engines. A faulty MAF is a possible suspect, difficult to diagnose for sure without a tool to see the sensor values (This can be achieved with the Torque app and a bluetooth module fairly cheaply, provided its compatible with that standard). You may find a fault code logged to look into though anyway.

[sparky Paul]

The failure to start could be relay 30, as above. This tends to give complete ignition failure, either permanent, temporary or momentary.

 

If the power loss is more like a misfire, most common problem is plugs - these must be changed every 40,000 miles, they are pretty much shot by then and can give ignition problems before that. If the plugs are okay, check coil/s and then HT leads.

[andrewjameshoward2]

I read about relay 30. The thread I read says that with an R30 fault, the engine won't even turn over. When I have the "won't start" problem, the engine still turns over fine. Does this mean it's not R30 after all?

[BrianH]

look at the door led when you have the problem occour and compare to when it works, if the pattern is different its indicating the immobiliser isn't happy.

 

Mine still turned over when the relay was faulty as well (both when i brought it in that state, and when the replacement used one failed 2 years later).

[sparky Paul]

As above, on 2.3 petrol you will see fast flashing of the door led, engine spins but doesn't make any attempt to fire.

[andrewjameshoward2]

I am so much obliged. I had a dry joint in Relay 30. I will put a more detailed comment on the relay 30 thread.