'99 Almera leaking oil

Adam

hi all. i'm proud to step foot in the boards motoring forum for the first time ever, i bought a car yesterday!

now i was prepared to have to do a bit of work on it, i got it at auction for next to nothing so i'm jumping in the deep end as i'm no mechanic!

anyway the story is i got it home late last night, it was dark so i couldn't see much while i was looking around it. this morning i find a smallish puddle under the engine, which turns out to be oil best i can tell. so upon further investigation here's whats happening.

1.when the car isn't running/has been off for more than 10-15 minutes there's no dripping
2.when the engine is running idle it drips slowly and steadily, roughly a drop every two seconds give or take
3.now this is the odd part, when it's idling and dripping away, if i go and switch the engine off the dripping turns into a stream for about thirty seconds, now i dont have anything to catch it in but you'd probably fill a shot glass and then some with what comes out, and then it drips again until we're back to step one.



the two larger circles are where it drips from primarily, and the smaller one to a lesser degree.

please help boardsies, anything you can tell me would be hugely appreciated!

blackbox

I hate to be the messanger with bad news, but the symptoms suggest that the crankshaft oil seal has failed, possibly in conjuction with worn main bearings.

Is there a bit of a rumbling noise when the engine is being started?

Saab Ed

Throw it back into the same auction IMO

Adam

nothing that i can notice with my relatively untrained ear. bit of an update though, it seems the streaming depends on how long the engine is running, as i just had it running for thirty seconds there while i moved it to another place on the driveway and nothing came out after i switched her off again...

just to put the other photo in perspective, here's a top down view of the offending location:



obviously it's not the pipe, but the block below it:



any useful input as to reasons why i should do that Saab?

Saab Ed

Adam wrote: »

any useful input as to reasons why i should do that Saab?

Because if you got it for next to nothing and it is the crankshaft oil seal thats gone then its just not worth fixing. I sold a 3 door Almera to the trade the other day, 80k odd on the clock, tidy enough on the body and loads of tax and test for 700 quid. There was nothing wrong with the car. Not having ago at your car but best to just bail out of her while you can. If she runs out of oil on the road and locks up then its worthless.

Adam

Saab Ed wrote: »

Because if you got it for next to nothing and it is the crankshaft oil seal thats gone then its just not worth fixing. I sold a 3 door Almera to the trade the other day, 80k odd on the clock, tidy enough on the body and loads of tax and test for 700 quid. There was nothing wrong with the car. Not having ago at your car but best to just bail out of her while you can. If she runs out of oil on the road and locks up then its worthless.

true that, and i appreciate the advice. i'm hoping it will see me through at least a while though, i'd hate to have to wait any longer to get on the road, i'm already 23!

out of curiosity how expensive would a repair be if it is the crank seal?

Muckie

You'll probably be takling a couple of hundred euro
for a mechanic to do the work, your other option if you
wanna just hold onto the car for a while is a an oil additive.
Don't know the name but most motor factors or halfords would
have the stuff, it seals up minor leaks. Good luck.

Adam

Muckie wrote: »

You'll probably be takling a couple of hundred euro
for a mechanic to do the work, your other option if you
wanna just hold onto the car for a while is a an oil additive.
Don't know the name but most motor factors or halfords would
have the stuff, it seals up minor leaks. Good luck.

that's helpful info, thanks muckie! i probably will get someone to look at it to find out for sure what the problem is, but i'll certainly look into that oil additive!