oil leak

[Freddievan]

I've found a large amount of oil on my drive (unfortunately found it after i returned from a run out). It really does look like the van has dumped the full content of oil. I'll obviously get someone to look at this but... any ideas what this could be?

[AngeloEvs]

What engine? Given the quantity in your description he first thing I would check is the sump plug. Afer that it is a good inspection for evidence of where the leak originated.

look at the dipstick and estimate what is left if any.

[Freddievan]

What engine? Given the quantity in your description he first thing I would check is the sump plug. Afer that it is a good inspection for evidence of where the leak originated.

look at the dipstick and estimate what is left if any.

It's a 1.9 petrol 1990 watercooled. I'm guessing it must be the sump plug because of the amount spilled.

[AngeloEvs]

If the sump plug is missing then the next question is was it loose or is the sump thread poor or damaged?

Look for the sump plug - it must be somewhere close. Once you have it you can examine it and then refit. See if it tightens to the correct torque figure (Haynes manual, WIKI, google, etc).

If it is the sump casing thread that is worn/damaged then I have seen call out services that fit helicoils and new sump plugs, also seen Helicoil kits advertised on EBAY (no idea of what they are like), also talk to your local garage. I have even read of sparkplugs being used as a temporary bodge but check to see exactly why the sump plug fell out if indeed that is the cause.

[Mr Bean]

Hope I am not teaching Granny to suck eggs but an engine can be wrecked in seconds/minutes if run with no oil. You would be very fortunate if your sump plug decided to drop out just as you were parking up. Sods law says it will drop out on the road probably while you were preoccupied and wouldn't notice the oil warning light until you had run the bearings. Did you look for oil trail or drips behind your van?
It is probably not the sump plug but whatever it is you really need to make sure there is at least a dipable ( invented word) amount of oil in your sump before you attempt to start your engine. In fact if it is a bad leak then you may find it simply by observation observation maybe with the engine running but only if there is oil in the sump and the oil warning light is going out when you start the engine.
Best of luck with itanyway.
CS

[jrt]

Any update? Could be coming from the push rods...might look like a lot of oil but it doesn't take much to look bad. Spilt about 300ml of gear oil attempting to refill the box the other week and the drive looked like it was dripping in the stuff.
David

[Freddievan]

Nothing found on this. Garage checked van out and it didn't lose a drop of oil. I do have a theory. An embarrassing one... but I can't imagine any other that makes any sense. I'm guessing that the last time I topped the van up with oil, I managed somehow to miss the spout and spill on the floor.

[R0B]

[Freddievan]

So a sinister and distressing turn for the worse. Looks like it was possibly oil from the gearbox. I've driven the van around thinking I've got a clutch problem and - it would seem - have totally destroyed my gearbox. Van will have to be taken off the road for a while. For a long while

[R0B]

Oh dear