One for the mechanically inclined members of this forum

[Ferret Master]

Hello!

 

Long story short, bought my first car a few weeks ago, it's a 1.2 16v Renault Clio Manual on an '03 plate. Was fine initially but after about 3 weeks an oil leak developed. This turned out to be gear box oil.

 

3 parts have been replaced by the garage that I bought it from free of charge in an attempt to solve the problem, however it was hard to pin down the problem as the oil was just hitting the driveshaft and being sprayed everywhere!

 

The oil has since been diagnosed as coming from the breather valve on the gear box. Subsequently a new one was ordered and this turned out to be about 12 inches longer than the first one. It came with clear instructions to cut the old pipe off half way up and attach the new one. The garage has done this and partaken in some test driving... no oil had appeared. I drove it 30 miles down the motorway home at 70 and there's oil everywhere when I get home. No doubts about where its come from as you can see where it's dripped from the top of the pipe.

 

The garage, despite being genuine helpful people are at a loss as to what is causing it. Our very own resident mechanic Lurcherboy has suggested down the phone it could be due to overfilling or the wrong oil being used. This I could understand however surely the leak would have been there when I bought it and not taken a few weeks to start. One possible reason could be the initial fault was fixed but the oil was then overfilled?

 

Any ideas from people in the know appreciated chaps as I don't want to have to get rid of this car (garage offering full refund if I want it as they are decent people) as other than this oil leak, its relatively low mileage for its age and in good condition.

 

Cheers,

 

FM

[wisecobandit]

The braethers on the clio gearboxes do seem to suffer faults for some reason as they can block and cause a lot of sludge around the filler cap.

How accesible is the valve?If you can remove it easily then take it out and check it is actually allowing it to breather properly. ie blow through it both ways to make sure it only operates in 1 direction.

Secondly make sure the oil level is correct and not over filled as can be the most common cause.The filler plug is half way up on the front of the gearbox close to where it mates to the engine.Sometimes its a plastic plug not metal on them.

If you take this plug out and oil runs out then let it as its been over filled.The oil level should come up to the bottom of that plug hole and no more.

There is no reason why a gearbox should pressurise and blow oil out the breather if its not been over filled and the breather works as it should,

[beerdeor]

Diff seal I say

atb Jim

 

If they have been changed could be play in the diff bearings causing the new seals to knock out quickly

[Ferret Master]

Thanks for the replies so far chaps! I'll go and have a look at the car in a minute and report back my findings.

 

Thanks,

 

FM

[al4x]

get them to drain the oil and replace so you know its definitely the right oil. Of course being a new motor to you there is a chance someone has tried to add something to keep the gearbox quiet to sell, gearbox oil usually smells pretty rank so may be worth a sniff test

[Paul223]

get them to drain the oil and replace so you know its definitely the right oil. Of course being a new motor to you there is a chance someone has tried to add something to keep the gearbox quiet to sell, gearbox oil usually smells pretty rank so may be worth a sniff test

it'll most likely be a semi synthetic oil, almost as clear as water, nearly as runny and hardly any smell, not like the older style ep89/90 which stank like a strong gas smell

 

must agree on the additive thought though, whats the betting they (or a prev owner) added some sort of stop leak to try to quick cure a half shaft seal no doubt, which is allowing the oil to foam?

 

if it looks like it's coming from the breather with no explanation then get the oil changed for the correct grade and level, see if the problem persists

[Ferret Master]

Had the garage and Lurcherboy on the phone this morning. The garage have told me that they spoke to Renault who suggested the breather was blocked or the gear box was overfilled which matches LB's suggestion. Also both the garage and LB have said that the quantity of oil should be a whopping 3.4l

 

LB also said it runs on 75w80 which I am led to understand is not a normal gear box oil!

 

Anyway the garage are coming over to collect it now!

 

Thanks for the replies.

 

FM

[Ferret Master]

Car has just been delivered home.

 

Turns out they had the wrong oil in it and too much of it. The gearbox is meant to hold 3.4l yet they drained 3.5l out of it, so God only knows how much was in there before it leaked loads out.

 

Survived a 30 mile motorway journey home with no leaking.

 

FM