93 Ducato oil leak

zagmund

Hi guys . . . it's been a while since I've been here as I found I was getting too addicted to the boards so I took a few months off . . .

Our '93 Ducato had a problem last year with the gear selector (which just snapped off) and it was replaced by a ready-up from the garage rather than an official part. The garage say the parts can't be got any more. It broke again this year and I've just had them fit a 'new' one again. I hope it lasts a little longer this time.

My current problem is that the van now seems to be leaking oil, but I'm not entirely sure from where. The dipstick is full (in fact too full, if that's relevant), although no oil has been added for a year or so.

There has been some mention of the gearbox oil as an alternate source of the leak, but until about 2 days ago I didn't even know there was such a thing as gearbox oil and I sure don't know how to check the level. All I know for sure is there is a big patch (guess = .25 to .5 litre) of oil on my driveway and I could see it dripping from a number of places under the engine so I *know* it came from the van.

I had a look at the manual but it's all in German. I've tried googling 'ducato oil leak' and variations but I can't come up with anything that even comes close to pointing at where I could check the gearbox oil level.

Can anyone give me any pointers on things I could check for the source of the oil leak ?

I can't drive the camper back to the garage to get them to check because I don't want to be driving the thing around if some important part has no oil and is bone dry. I could get it towed back but that's going to cost me €200+ for the tow and I'm not terribly impressed with them in the first place for missing the oil leak. When the van broke down this time and had to be towed to them there was oil leaking - I didn't mention it specifically to them when I left it in, but I thought they would have noticed when they were replacing the bit beside the leak. I guess I was wrong.

Anyhoo . . . oil leak, Ducato, pointers ?

Thanks,

z

peasant

Too much oil in the engine is just as bad as not enough. It will come under pressure and could leak out (which would be the simplest explanation for your oil leaks) worst case scenario it can even damage the engine.

Aidan_M_M

There's a dipstick for the gearbox , accessable from underneath the 'van . Its on the rear of the differential housing , slightly to the right IIRC .

The older Ducatos are notoriosly "drippy" , sump gaskets , driveshaft seals, Diff housing gasket , block breather , and so on . First you need to see if its engine oil, or gear oil .
Get some clean , stiff , light coloured sheet , cardboard is fine , about 2 foot square . Slide it under the engine bay , and see where the oil lands on it . That'll give you an idea where exactly it's coming from .

If it's black , it's from the engine . If it's fairly clear , to honey coloured or tinged with brown , it's gear oil .

Buford T Justice

If it smells like cats piss, its Gear oil, otherwise its engine oil. tbh, it really could be one of many many things thats leaking, from an oil filter, bung to the diff itself

If you can, powerwash the dirt out of the engine and when the drip re-appears you may be able to spot it in the engine easier.

zagmund

Right, I'm back. I left it up to a garage and they had a look underneath. It appears there's a big hole in the middle of the gearbox casing, hence the leak . . . I managed to drive it up there (about 3 or 4 miles) without anything unusually odd happening while driving. I've no idea what punched the hole or whether it ended up inside the gearbox or escaped out of it.

The suggestion is to get a new gearbox, but it seems these things aren't just sitting about on shelves anymore. The internet has been suggested as a possibility, but the internet is a very, very large place (even bigger than Ireland ) and I have absolutely no idea where to start.

Can anyone suggest potential places (online or in the real world) that I might track down a gearbox for a '93 Ducato as I haven't the foggiest where to start. The guy in the garage is going to look for one too, but he suggested I might try as well.

Suggestions welcome.

z

spaceHopper

saw an add for this place http://www.theonlinescrapyard.com/

http://www.partfinder.ie/

google car dismantlers ireland and start phoning

also check gumtree.ie and donedeal.ie for old vans for sale could get one cheap and take the parts out and scrap it later

martyc5674

zagmund wrote: »

Right, I'm back. I left it up to a garage and they had a look underneath. It appears there's a big hole in the middle of the gearbox casing, hence the leak . . . I managed to drive it up there (about 3 or 4 miles) without anything unusually odd happening while driving. I've no idea what punched the hole or whether it ended up inside the gearbox or escaped out of it.

The suggestion is to get a new gearbox, but it seems these things aren't just sitting about on shelves anymore.
z

Hole in your gearbox casing could have been caused by your broken selector prodding it...but should have been spotted by the mechanic fixing the selector, Easy for me to say of course without seeing it.

Marty.

paddyp

Is it the 2.5 engine?

I know that a lot of the pre 94 ducatos have post 94 engine and gearbox in them must be fairly straight forward conversion. Probably best to get hubs, wheels, driveshafts etc. with the engine and gearbox. You can pick up mechanically perfect ducatos for well under the price of a recon gearbox as a donor vehicle because they are murder for rusting sills etc.

You should ask on www.fiatforum.com/ducato

Aidan_M_M

paddyp wrote: »

Is it the 2.5 engine?

I know that a lot of the pre 94 ducatos have post 94 engine and gearbox in them must be fairly straight forward conversion. Probably best to get hubs, wheels, driveshafts etc. with the engine and gearbox. You can pick up mechanically perfect ducatos for well under the price of a recon gearbox as a donor vehicle because they are murder for rusting sills etc.

You should ask on www.fiatforum.com/ducato

thats incorrect anyway... the Gearboxes are totally different . I've done a few of each .

dudara

zagmund, can I ask where you are located?

paddyp

Aidan_M_M wrote: »

thats incorrect anyway... the Gearboxes are totally different . I've done a few of each .

I know the gearboxes are different, thats why I said "engine and gearbox"

[edit]
I looked into it. The conversion I'm thinking of is from 280 to 290 which involves basically transferring everything from the front end, wheels, hubs, struts, brakes, master cylinder, gearbox, mounts etc. etc. Probably not worth it.

http://www.delfindesigns.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=57

Looks like reasonable price ..

zagmund

Thanks for all the replies and sorry for the delay in responding.

dudara - I'm in South Dublin
paddyp - thanks for the link, I'll pass that on the garage guy
spacehopper - thanks for the links - I dropped a mail to onlinescrapyard and they may have a suitable fit. I'm currently trying to get my garage guy to contact them so they can talk technical rather than have me trying to pass on messages.

Cheers,

z