Oil found at screw tops, any ideas

 

Engine oil or silicone shine spray?

 

Remove the cover and look around.

I don't recognize that cover. What year and model is your Jaguar? You didn't say and you don't have a signature with that information, and the only thing your Public Profile shows is that you're in the US.

We can't help you unless you give us information about your Jaguar.

 

When you find engine oil in places in the engine bay where it didn't obviously drip from above, there's two possibilities. Either it leaked out somewhere forward of the location you found it and was blown back by the air flow from the fan or just driving fast, or it was blown out of the crankcase already in aerosol form, kind of like a cough with covid germs. I'm thinking the latter. First thing that comes to mind is the PCV system. There's various tubes that run generally from somewhere on the valve covers to the throttle body, intake manifold or intake ducts. They usually are made of brittle plastic that gets even more brittle over the years. Look for cracks in the tubing. And second they are usually attached with the worlds greatest assortment of different kinds of clips and clamps, many of which are made of plastic and some of which seal by way of fossilized O-rings from the pleistocene era. Sometimes especially those smaller tubes, called part-load breathers, get plugged with carbon deposits which will be tested by paleontologists in the future to estimate the year model of the vehicle. If the oil vapor can't flow through the system, then it will find a way to get OUT. That's usually through the most petrified piece of plastic or rubber seal on the engine. On my old XJ8, oil vapors would come through the seals where the variable valve timing solenoids stick up through the valve covers. It will appear wet and dirty around whatever is leaking. HTH.

 

OK, I found it. You're in the right Forum. It's from a normally-aspirated 4.2L XK.

 

No reply just spacing PD's reply out so I could actually read it!

 

it is engine oil

 

PCV mist from a leaky hose blowing onto the inside of the cover, then leaking downwards?

Course, maybe Power Steering leak at the front could blow backwards.........

 

The President of Austria´s Rolls Royce Club is the opinion:

"An English car, that doesn´t leak, was inside all dry from the start"

;-)

Hermann

 

The last guy who changed your oil made a mess and didn't clean it all up very well?

 

Didn't think about that possibility, but yes. No telling how many times I've seen some sort of fluid on the floor or elsewhere the day after I buttoned up a repair and freaked out thinking I had messed up somewhere.

 

Take the vanity covers off and lets see what's underneath please.

 

12 posts to get to the right answer! 👍

 

Nope, it took only 2 posts. That's what I said in my Post #3, above. Read it again.