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XR8 oil leak...?

7K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  ED195KW 
#1 ·
Ok, as you guys have already heard, I bought myself an EB XR8, and as an added feature, it came with an aftermarket oil leak. At first I thought it was because the car had too much oil in it, then I thought it was the power steering leaking, so today I put it up the ramps and now I'm confused as hell.

Let me explain the leak first. It doesn't leak overnight or when cold, only for a little after being run. e.g. I take the car for a spin, pull up in my driveway, look under car and...drip. So the leak isn't small. I can't tell what sort of oil it is (gear, motor, power steering fluid) because after it has been through all the shit on the cross member, its brown anyway.

I put it up on the ramps today and gave it a good clean under there. It appeared to be coming from around the powersteering gear. Even though the sump was covered with oil, the sump plug wasn't leaking and the sump gasket wasn't leaking (nor the rear main seal). The block was completely oil free, so the leak was below the block somewhere. I drained about a litre of oil because I new that the motor was overfull anyway.

The power steering fluid was MEGA low, so I inspected the steering gear, but because it sits nicely up between the cross member and sump, that was rather difficult. I cleaned it as much as I could and started the car up. I let it get warm, then checked for oil leaks...no leaks?

I washed it all down with a gernie, took it for a spin around the block and there haven't been any leaks yet. What the? I didn't fix anything... Any ideas?

I don't think it could've been oil leaking out the dipstick because the leak was so big and I would have noticed a whole heap of oil spewing from the dippy. So I don't think that my draining of the oil fixed anything. I'm confused.
 
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#2 ·
My XR8 also came with an oil leak as a no cost extra when I bought it about 7 months ago! After much investigation I found it came from the power steering pressure hose (leaking down from top fitting that screws into reservoir) and it was leaking where steering wheel shaft goes into the actual power steering rack. I think this could be a common problem with the V8's so it could be an idea to check these things on yours. How did I fix it? I replaced the pressure hose (cost about $110), easy. But the other wasn't quite as simple, the seal was trashed where the steering shaft goes into the housing (on the rack) so I had to take the housing off (4 bolts I think plus I had to remove 4 hoses off it and the shaft first). Once you get this housing off things become clear, and you just get the old seal out and push the new one in! It's also as good idea to replace the seals from the small hoses that come off the housing/rack as they're probably leaking as well. Good luck!

Mark.
 
#3 ·
make sure it isnt coming out of the dipstick - dont laugh

ive noticed when the oil rings are on the way out it gets a bit of blowby builds up crankcase preasure oil comes out dipstick and runs down block and onto K Frame where it procedes to drip around the middle of the engine leaving the owner baffled and confused because said owners sump isnt leaking!

now its not only on my car that its doing this its on a couple of other 5litre EB's i know of too.


the long and the short of it - a rebuild is on order, weather you get 500kms or 50,000kms out of it is another story

as i bought my car with plans of an engine reco anyway this doesnt really bother me but if you bought it with plans of just keeping it stock you could find oyurself really dissapointed really quickliy lol
 
#4 ·
I'll do a compression check and that should determine wether or not the rings are shot, thanks for the input, I hope it's not the rings.

She's going in for a service and rego inspection this week, so I thought I'd just let the mechanic find the bloody leak. If I had a hoist...
 
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