Td5 engine oil leak after service

[travelrover]

Hi team

Had my Td5 serviced the week before Christmas by the usual independent. A couple of days later I noticed oil on the shed floor below the oil filter. I have owned this from new (1999) and it has never dropped engine oil. A quick look [emoji102] and there was oil all down the side of the block but the filter was dry and tight as best I could tell.
I checked the dip stick and it was reading about 1/4 inch over the high fill mark which I figured was not good but short of dropping the oil not much I could do and the service place was closed for the holidays.
I had noticed the smell of oil burning and also white smoke when accelerating since the service again neither of these had been evident previously.
Now about a month later the burning oil smell is pretty much gone as is I think the white smoke. The oil level is now just below the high mark.

My question is has the engine just dumped the excess oil somehow? It is certainly not dropping on the shed floor as much though I still can’t find where it’s coming from.
Any ideas what’s going on here?

Cheers

[Xtreme]

Can't help with ideas as to what's going on but I'd certainly be talking to your independant service guys as soon as they're back at work.

I hope they didn't add the new oil without draining the old. :thumbsdown::thumbsdown:
How does the colour of the oil? If it's fairly dirty already I'd be getting them to do another oil and filter/s change FOC.

[travelrover]

Can't help with ideas as to what's going on but I'd certainly be talking to your independant service guys as soon as they're back at work.

I hope they didn't add the new oil without draining the old. :thumbsdown::thumbsdown:
How does the colour of the oil? If it's fairly dirty already I'd be getting them to do another oil and filter/s change FOC.

It is very black, in fact that’s a thought I had at the time maybe just topped it up!

[Xtreme]

I assume, with your other 'mounts' available that you probably haven't driven the Td5 too far since the service so the oil shouldn't be "very black".

It would be interesting to discover where the excess has been getting out. I hope it hasn't caused any damage.
Maybe your "usual independant" was extra busy before Christmas and had an insufficiently supervised apprentice on the job - that's no excuse for poor workmanship though!

[Slunnie]

Not sure either, but excess oil might blow through the PCV and just be being burnt off via combusion. Oil leaks are probably coming from the full flow or the centrifugal filter housing, especially if they have stripped the very easy to strip bolts for the housing cap.

[travelrover]

I assume, with your other 'mounts' available that you probably haven't driven the Td5 too far since the service so the oil shouldn't be "very black".

It would be interesting to discover where the excess has been getting out. I hope it hasn't caused any damage.
Maybe your "usual independant" was extra busy before Christmas and had an insufficiently supervised apprentice on the job - that's no excuse for poor workmanship though!

Yes they were very busy, but not really an excuse. It wouldn’t have travelled much more than 300kms since then as I topped up the tank on Wednesday and was only 33 litre and it was full when it went for service. I’ll have to check the log book to be sure.

[Tins]

It wouldn’t have travelled much more than 300kms since then a.

2,3,400kms... If the car is as regularly serviced as it sounds like yours is then very black oil would bother me. We all know that diesels blacken their oil, but not that soon. Reckon Xtreme may have nailed it.

The leak is something else entirely. Stern words may be needed.

[DazzaTD5]

My guess is when they were removing the old oil filter it flipped upside down and emptied itself down the side of the block.

It can be a bit of a pain to remove and it can be easy to flip the old filter.

[Tins]

My guess is when they were removing the old oil filter it flipped upside down and emptied itself down the side of the block.

It can be a bit of a pain to remove and it can be easy to flip the old filter.

You’d hope that a decent shop would have dealt with that though. Agreed though, you would have done a heck of a lot more than me. Nice to know that the pros can bugger it up too.

[travelrover]

We had a similar issue with our 2.2 puma in October where the filter housing seal was not seated properly during service and the it failed after a similar distance. The wife was driving and fortunately noticed the warning lamp and stopped in-time at home. The oil out of that looked [emoji102] brand new. It parks in the shed next to the Td5 and the mess on the floor was quite a contrast. Well was before I cleaned the floor this afternoon.

[Xtreme]

My guess is when they were removing the old oil filter it flipped upside down and emptied itself down the side of the block.

It can be a bit of a pain to remove and it can be easy to flip the old filter.
I usually wrap a plastic shopping bag around the filter once I've loosened it and can do the final unscrew by hand. It then doesn't matter if it tips slightly or flips as any spilt oil is contained in the bag, I don't even get oil on my hands.
It's a bit awkward getting the bag right around the filter but I found that a piece of wire with a hook is handy to get the bag up behind the filter.

[johnp38]

My question is has the engine just dumped the excess oil somehow? It is certainly not dropping on the shed floor as much though I still can’t find where it’s coming from.
Any ideas what’s going on here?

Cheers

Combo of oil dripping down side of block from normal filter change spill and also centrifuge lid leak? Just guessing like everyone else of course.

Hopefully something simple and easily corrected.

[BreakingBad]

My guess is when they were removing the old oil filter it flipped upside down and emptied itself down the side of the block.

It can be a bit of a pain to remove and it can be easy to flip the old filter.


That's why I use an old 1L Chobani brand yoghurt container. It's the perfect size to wrap around the filter and it flexes enough to allow you to grip the filter and twist. It also captures all the oil so no mess [bigsmile]

[travelrover]

That's why I use an old 1L Chobani brand yoghurt container. It's the perfect size to wrap around the filter and it flexes enough to allow you to grip the filter and twist. It also captures all the oil so no mess [bigsmile]

When I change the oil myself I use a 3 liter plastic milk bottle with the bottom cutout. This was changed by professionals. ;-)

[towe0609]

My guess is when they were removing the old oil filter it flipped upside down and emptied itself down the side of the block.

It can be a bit of a pain to remove and it can be easy to flip the old filter.

And they left their refillable brake clean sprayer in the last customers engine bay (I aquired one this way once and the workshop was too far away to return it)