Time to diagnose an Oil Leak

[Sir WIll]

Gents,

Some of your wisdom if I may, I have been reading all the Oil Leak Threads and just need your thoughts.

I have a small oil leak, nothing major but the odd spot on the drive.

Its very hard to see where it is coming from, I cannot see anything from above and the cam covers look OK.

The leak is causing the sub frame behind the under tray on the drivers side to have oil on the inside of it and run down and hence the drips. So its rear of the engine, right of the gearbox and on the drivers side around where a couple of bolts are on the rear part of the sub frame.

Any thoughts? Oil Cooler/ Breather pipes?

Rack looks OK and not leaking.

[Dezzy]

They can leak from the rear of the engine at the bulkhead end, difficult to see back there. Mirror and a torch may help you.

I have similar and have been putting it off for a long while, i think i do have rack issues.

[Nuisanceneighbour]

Having wrecked three driveways (mine, my parent's and my last house) I bit the bullet over the Easter break with the brief of sorting the oil leaks once and for all. The only gaskets I was unable to change were the transmission end crank seal, the secondary sump gasket - couldn't see any way to do this without lowering the sub-frame - and the oil pump shaft seal since I didn't have a replacement bearing. In the end, I think the primary culprit was the "slinger-ring" type seals between the cylinder head and the inboard timing belt covers just behind the camshaft pulleys, these regions were soaked with oil.
The rear camshaft seals on the 32v engine feature one radial shaft seal on the nearside serving the hall-effect sensor and two chocolate "slinger-ring" seals behind the aluminium covers on both sides. Hope you get to the bottom of it!

[Conquistador]

Good work there ^ ^ ^ I wish I had the skills and patience to do this myself rather than paying a garage to do it.

I appreciate this isn't Mumsnet but for clearing up oil stains on driveways, this is your friend:
http://www.halfords.com/motoring-tra...veway-clear-1l


Works a treat. Splash it on the stain, leave for 15 minutes, then scrub with a hard brush and wash away. Should need no more than two applications. OK, it's not quite Exxon Valdez-esque, but still looked very unsightly!

[brasiliangringo]

Smell the oil, it could be the final drive on the RH side - gear oil smells fairly distinct. I replaced the seals on my S8.