OIL PROBLEM

[tombambury]

OK I have just bought a 16valver after owning a very leaky saxo vts for a year. I checked it of course when I bought it, and now Ive driven about 150 miles in it and decided to check all was wel under the bonnet, theres oil everywhere, of which there was no sign 150 miles ago. I assume the guy cleaned it all up before he sold it. A gauge on the dash hasn't worked since I bought it, its the far left one out of the 3 that sit in the middle of the dash, the only one with maximum / minimum on the gauge. and the icon is a little hook thingy :S "very technical description" I won't be able to clean it up and take a proper look till tommorow mornin, but does anyone know what that gauge represents?

Also any one had a similar encounter, I would have thought the only thing which could send oil everywhere was the driveshaft, or possibly the feed from the sump block to rocker cover :cry: anyone???
please

[Scott-16v!]

the gauge on the far left is oil level, although i never rely on it as imo dipstick is more reliable

[Coops]

theres so many place it can leak from under a valver bonnet its unbeliviable mate! take a pic n post it n someone may b able to help!!!

u shud of joined before buyin a valver!quality cars but u'll notice that nearly every1 on here has there car in pieces every other week!! :lol:

the far gauge is oil level, its a shared sender sensor tho with the oil temperature on front of engine block n tends to stop workin as mine dont either! do the other two gauges work? pressure n temp?

Coops

oh n welcome!its a laff ownin these cars but hard work, i've had one for 5 months now n its undergoing 1st major rebuild after heavy right foot blew my head gasket!! :oops:

[tombambury]

haha kool, well I dnt mind my hands gettin a little dirty, Ill try and post some pics tommorow, the other 2 gauges work and have had no worrying readings as of yet

[Coops]

have had no worrying readings as of yet

lucky guy!! :lol:

[Rich]

your level guage only works for around 20seconds on start up mate so check it as soon as its turned over as it may actually work!

[Allan]

yeah that oil gauge just tells you how much oil is in the engine, and will only work on startup, mine pritty accurate if you use the like first 10mm as a full to empty gague :)

When its full it sits right up at the top where it says max just under where it starts to get loads of lines, once it drops about 5mm i know to put a litre of oil in her ;)

also its not accurate if you start the engine when its hot since there is oil been pumped all over the place ;)

just use it as a guide.

Also when you say there is oil all over the place , where abouts is all over the place ??? cause if its on the drives side it might be just oil from the power steering mine seems to always leek out of the top

[Purple]

Could be the rocker cover gasket. My cover only gets oily when I cane the car over some distance. Might just need a bit of rocker cover tightening. Else replace the gasket.

In these cars - losing a litre of oil over 2-3 month of driving is normal. If it's a lot more than that, you'll need to trace the oil leak.

[Allan]

yeah my engine burns about a litre ever 1000 miles or so some times a litre and half if i have been thrashing it a bit ':)