Peugeot 308 1.6 vti oil leak headache

[Seanie280672]

Hi, I've justjsigned up and hoping someone can help me with this problem, I've owned the car since December 2018, it's a peugePe 308 1.6 vti petrol (120) with the EP6 NA non turbo engine.

In the begining I loved this car, now I'm starting to hate it, I have a Peugeot 308 1.6 vti 2008, it using so much oil I don't know where to start, it has or had an oil leak from somewhere, so I got the engine washed off, took it back to the mechanic a few days later and the leak was coming from what appeared to be the oil filter housing, to cut a long story short, this seal has now been done twice as after the first attempt, it was still leaking, seems to be ok there now.

The rocker cover gasket / seal has also been changed.

Anyway, it was still using a ton of oil, we could see it all over the gearbox, down by the slave cylinder and over the bottom engine cover, although it didn't look like it was pouring out, we put this down to a leaking vacuum pump as we could see a couple of droplets about to fall off it at the time, so now that's been replaced.

You'd think the issues were fixed, you'd be wrong, I'm using half a litre of oil a week and I only do 20 miles to and from work a week, the oil is in the same place, on one of the gearbox fins at the front, it's run around that past the slave cylinder and all over the underside of the gearbox and bottom engine cover. We can't figure out for the life of us where it's really coming from, but it's giving the impression it's coming out at a pretty high rate whilst driving, when sitting idling and the bonnet is open, we can't see anything coming from anywhere, it's definitely engine oil though, not gearbox oil, the level in the gearbox doesn't change. Sorry for the long post, but this is really doing my head in now, any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Lunchmoney]

Hi and welcome.

Sounds like a real pickle.

it's giving the impression it's coming out at a pretty high rate whilst driving, when sitting idling and the bonnet is open, we can't see anything coming from anywhere

Can you get the car onto a rolling road, get it up to speed and then, very carefully, examine the engine whilst it's under load?

 

[Seanie280672]

Hi and welcome.

Sounds like a real pickle.


Can you get the car onto a rolling road, get it up to speed and then, very carefully, examine the engine whilst it's under load?

Thanks, I can't imagine where else on that side of the car it could be coming from, unless, dare I say it, the head gasket. It's the only other carrier of oil that I can think of on that side of the car.

 

[Lunchmoney]

Have you had compression tests done?

 

[Seanie280672]

Have you had compression tests done?

Yes I have and that came back fine, however a compression test just tests if the head gasket is ok around the cylinders, it wouldn't pick up if the outer skin of the head gasket was damaged around one of the oil channels letting oil out.

Also I should say I'm not getting any smoke out of the exhaust

 

[Seanie280672]

Just too add, funny enough I was just watching a video about steel seal head gasket repair, when I first got the car the heater matrix was blocked, I had to flush the cooling system and fit a new matrix, pretty easy on this car, however it makes me wonder now if the previous owners knew the problem and put something in the coolant to try and fix it, in turn blocking up the matrix with it too.

 

[TCJBOLDIE]

Is the oil filter working loose or the crankshaft end seals worn or sump gasket faulty or damaged?
1/2 a litre in 20 miles is a big loss

When you track it down let us know.

 

[Seanie280672]

I'm about to do the clutch in the car next week so will definitely remove the flywheel and change that crank seal on that side whilst I'm at it, the sump and timing chain side crank seal is the wrong side of the car to where the oil leak is.

My one pet hate with cars is oil leaks, I can d so with any other problems, but oil leaks are so hard to track down.

Anyway a bit of an update, I took it to my mechanics again yesterday with the 1 hour I had spare after work and it looks it's still the vacuum pump, this is a brand new part we fitted, and still showing signs of loosing oil, so we took it back off, it's only 2 bolts and the vacuum pipe itself, then rubbed some silicone around the engine block where it connects to, just a thin layer. We then removed the seal from the pump and filled the seal channel on the pump up with silicone then gently place the seal back on top of the, fitted the pump back into place, and left it for half an hour to set whilst I cleaned up the mess off the gearbox etc.

I then took it for a 5 Mile drive before going home, no signs of oil anywhere, I need to try it for a couple of days really, but fingers crossed, the problem is cured.