R
Randy G.
Wife came home last night from work, and she said. "I started smelling
something burning just as I came up the hill," (We live on top of a
steep hill). I popped the hood and sure enough there was oil smoke,
and a glance under the car showed a dripping and a small puddle
forming on the garage floor.
A look around showed that the leak was somewhere from the rear of the
motor, up high (the top of the bell housing was wet, but the flywheel
was dry).
I pulled the spark plug plastic valley cover and the various valleys
up there were filled with oil. I had noticed just a bit of oil in
there before, but I wrote that off to my wife's (or my) occasional
messy oil-fill attempts. This time was different. It was enough oil to
fil the head, and when she climbed the hill, the momentum of the car
and the angle of the motor caused the buiild up to flow out the back
side of the cover and down the back of the motor onto the exhaust and
frame (what a mess!).
After allowing the thing to cool off I blotted up the excess. I
checked the dipstick and found that it was still a bit over the add
mark, so no panic there (and she did say that it didn't overheat or
anything). I have just done a timing belt (and water pump) as well as
plugs, so you can imagine what went through my head!
With the top of the head cleaned off and all the coil-wire covers
degreased, I restarted and saw that the oil was building from one
spot- right where one of the head bolts had come loose (one of the
four that surround each plug). Out came the torque wrench, and no more
leak....
Next time you do plugs, check the head bolts... Well, DUH! ;-)
__ __
Randy & \ \/ /alerie's
\__/olvo
'93 960 Estate
something burning just as I came up the hill," (We live on top of a
steep hill). I popped the hood and sure enough there was oil smoke,
and a glance under the car showed a dripping and a small puddle
forming on the garage floor.
A look around showed that the leak was somewhere from the rear of the
motor, up high (the top of the bell housing was wet, but the flywheel
was dry).
I pulled the spark plug plastic valley cover and the various valleys
up there were filled with oil. I had noticed just a bit of oil in
there before, but I wrote that off to my wife's (or my) occasional
messy oil-fill attempts. This time was different. It was enough oil to
fil the head, and when she climbed the hill, the momentum of the car
and the angle of the motor caused the buiild up to flow out the back
side of the cover and down the back of the motor onto the exhaust and
frame (what a mess!).
After allowing the thing to cool off I blotted up the excess. I
checked the dipstick and found that it was still a bit over the add
mark, so no panic there (and she did say that it didn't overheat or
anything). I have just done a timing belt (and water pump) as well as
plugs, so you can imagine what went through my head!
With the top of the head cleaned off and all the coil-wire covers
degreased, I restarted and saw that the oil was building from one
spot- right where one of the head bolts had come loose (one of the
four that surround each plug). Out came the torque wrench, and no more
leak....
Next time you do plugs, check the head bolts... Well, DUH! ;-)
__ __
Randy & \ \/ /alerie's
\__/olvo
'93 960 Estate