oil leak from front engine, pictures inc

[asmith88]

was going over the car for mot today, and i noticed a nice oil leak, now only a month ago the oil was just below the maximum mark on the dipstick.

now this morning it is on minimum

it seems to be coming from around the thermostat housing area, im losing very little (negligable) coolant, but the leak seems failry large

any ideas where it coming from? is it possible to have a leak from the thermostat housing, does oil flow through here?

the rocker gasket also has a small leak but this seems unrelated.

thanks andy


this is a pic of the bottom of the rad hose side of the housing, the oil seems to be on the hose and running down the side of the engine.


heres from the other side of the housing, the oil is again on the hoseyou can also see the oil running down the engine and behind the oil filter. and you can also see oil on the fan itself i think


this is the best picture of behind the housing, it shows a fairly large leak, this is behind the oil filter housing area as well, however the leak continues around the front

as i said this has only come to my attention recently so i wouldnt think it has been there too long

thanks for all your advice, andy

[DesktopDave]

Mine looks worse...all the M42/44's I've seen leak a lot of oil.  More from age than anything else...I'd suggest OEM gaskets or really high quality silicone gasket compound.  Avoid the cheap stuff, it ends up in the worst places.

I'd estimate my '89 burns off or oozes a bit more than a quart (1 litre) every year.  I'd suggest you start thinking about replacing all those front cover gaskets & front seal the next time you're in there.  I'd do the belt(s), thermostat & water pump then too.  Maybe the oil filter housing gasket, dipstick o-rings and lower oil pan too.  A solid weekend's full of work and your oil leaks will be history.

[YetiX]

Mine had a similar leak I think (it's hard to tell from your pictures).  On my car it was the oil filter housing gasket and the o-ring where the dip stick tube goes into the block.  I replaced both of those and most of my oil leaks went away.

[ak96ss]

I'd lay money on the o-ring for the filter housing.

[asmith88]

hosed it all off, and have left it for a week, there is very little oil about, i made sure to check the dipstick before hosing and there was no oil from that area.

is it possible for oil from the oil filter gasket to be blasted around the front of the engine?

[kpgc10]

mine doesnt leak oil ^.^

the oil filter housing has a paper gasket as well as an o-ring gasket. The o-ring on my car flattened out causing the leak i had.