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Oil leak - any ideas?

Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 9:23 pm
by UrbanFlow
All has been well with the X for some time now but over the last few days I now have oil drips on my drive the size of a 2 pence piece.
The oil is very clean - so I'm thinking it is from the gearbox rather than the engine.

It's dark at the moment, but looking underneath with a torch I have located that it is dripping between where the sump plate/under engine skid plate finishes and a black torsion bar that is almost level with the back of the front wheels. The area above there is coated with oil so it is difficult to determine where exactly it's coming from.
Looks like an up on the ramp job for my local indie.

I'll try and take a pic tomorrow in the light anyway. But does this sound familiar to anyone, or indeed, expensive?! (Silly quetion - everything is expensive on these).

:|

Re: Oil leak - any ideas?

Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 9:35 pm
by pvr
I had a gearbox sump seal go which was about £500 to replace (warranty direct at the time paid about half).

Re: Oil leak - any ideas?

Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 10:17 pm
by X5Sport
When you can see it properly if it's pink then gearbox, black(er) then engine oil. And as pvr says, probably expensive depending upon what is at fault and who repairs it.

Re: Oil leak - any ideas?

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 9:25 am
by UrbanFlow
Checked this morning before wife took it to work and in the cold light of day the oil is definitely not pink.
Looks more like engine oil - but quite clean engine oil.
Will take some shots a bit later.

Booking it in for a thorough check over with my BMW independent. Luckily I have car protection warranty. Get the feeling this is going to hurt :poke:

Re: Oil leak - any ideas?

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 7:30 pm
by tombs
It's jumping over hills like that, its probably loosened something ;)

Re: Oil leak - any ideas?

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 11:05 am
by UrbanFlow
So, booked in with local independent but he can't get me in until next Friday. :(

Here's a pic or two anyway...

This one is looking under the car from below the passenger side door looking forward - so front of car is to left of picture. I'm guessing that is engine oil.

Image

The next shot was taken from behind the driver's side front wheel looking into the small hole in the plastic inner mudguard...

Image

Not a lot of oil dropping - do you reckon it will be OK to run for a week?

Re: Oil leak - any ideas?

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 1:45 pm
by tombs
Sure it's not the ATF bottle leaking from underneath? It's the reservoir for your power steering fluid, mine was leaking a while ago and looked just like this underneath. It just needed the hose clip tightening up.

Just found my previous post on here... viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1848&p=19312#p19312

Re: Oil leak - any ideas?

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 2:36 pm
by UrbanFlow
[quote=""tombs""]Sure it's not the ATF bottle leaking from underneath? It's the reservoir for your power steering fluid, mine was leaking a while ago and looked just like this underneath. It just needed the hose clip tightening up.

Just found my previous post on here... viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1848&p=19312#p19312[/quote]

Thanks Tombs - I will check that over the weekend.