Morning all!

My 1997 XK8 has a slight oil leak, nothing major, but would rather get it sorted. It seems to be coming from the front drivers side (UK). I've attached a couple of photos where you can see the drip. I know it's not a lot to to off, but I thought I'd see if there were any common fault locations to give me an idea where to look whe I do some more investigations!

Thanks in advance!

 

Isn't that area below the oil filter? Are you sure that it's not just the filter seal which is leaking slightly?

By the way, have you removed the alternator cooling plate which directs cool air into the duct as it's missing in the photo?

Richard

 

Hi Richard,

I'll get it jacked up and take a proper look!

No, ive only taken ownership of the car a couple of weeks ago, thanks for pointing that out!

Jacob.

 

My bet is on the PAS return hose connection.

 

On further investigation, it seems to be sucking oil from the engine, into the air box. Is there any common reason why this might be the case?

Jacob

 

There is a breather pipe on the airbox so some oil mist will find it's way over but it shouldn't be too excessive. There is also one on the right hand cam cover which can get blocked and that would presumably tend to increase the oil mist going into the airbox. There is a procedure using a piece of rod or a drill bit to check that the breather is clear. I think the drill bit is 3mm (take care not to drop it in, obviously) or so but you can Google it. Also, I guess that a partially blocked air filter might make things worse so I would change the filter if it looks a bit past its best.

It's possible that you might have too much crankcase pressure so a compression test on the cylinders might be worthwhile just to rule that out.

Richard

 

Hi Richard,

Thanks a lot! I've taken a look at the breather pipe on the cam cover, presumining I'm looking at the correct area, is there meant to be some kind of mesh over the hole? I've attached a photo below, along with the state of the airbox and filter!

Jacob

 

That's definitely too much oil. There is supposed to be a mesh which helps to allow oil to condense out of the vapour so less of it gets through into the airbox.

The breather on the other cam cover has a much smaller hole, 3 mm or so, and no mesh, so check that hole is clear with a wire or similar and try a new air filter. If the oil still accumulates then you need to do a compression test to eliminate and ring or valve issues.

Richard

 

Info for you.

 

Thanks Richard, I'll take a look at the other breather. I've ordered a new filter so will give everything a clean up and see how it goes!

 

That's really helpful, thanks for that!