Main seal oil leak

PMBC

Noticed patches on paving on 2nd hand 2015 car purchased two months ago. Was sure it was coolant and oil dip showed no loss.
Garage said main oil seal need to be replaced and small oil loss. Under warranty. Is it engine oil or gear box oil? Long term any worries?

Atlantic Dawn

Car would be under manufacturers 2 year warranty. Gear box oil would be slightly redish when new.

PMBC

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Car would be under manufacturers 2 year warranty. Gear box oil would be slightly redish when new.

Just saw stain on paving, no colour evident. Is it a serious issue? Car has about 25k miles on clock and looks almost new.

Atlantic Dawn

PMBC wrote: »

Just saw stain on paving, no colour evident. Is it a serious issue? Car has about 25k miles on clock and looks almost new.

You would really need to know what oil it is. Is the gearbox manual or automatic? Normally a manual gearbox is a sealed unit with no dipstick to check level.

It could literally be anything from a loose oil filter to a leak in the sump. Did the dealer actually examine the car or is he just diagnosing over the phone? A car shouldn't be by design leaking oil, especially such a new car.

On a side note, are you 100% sure it's oil? If you have the air conditioning on the car will be leaking/creating a small amount of water from the condensor, this would be perfectly normal.

Henry Ford III

Yes it's potentially serious and it needs fixing.

How a 2015 car could leak like that has to be a concern also.

mullingar

Main seal usually refers to the crankshaft seal. Which side is leaking ? Gearbox end or timing belt end? Gearbox end means clutch+gearbox out to change ....

orm0nd

mullingar wrote: »

Main seal usually refers to the crankshaft seal. Which side is leaking ? Gearbox end or timing belt end? Gearbox end means clutch+gearbox out to change ....

not wishing to hijack

but would the clutch need to replaced ? ... oil contamination

mullingar

No. If the oil is just weeping out it will weep along the engine block and find a way out.

PMBC

Thanks for all those replies.
Car is manual and went back to dealer for exam. Initially, after a few hours he phoned and said water leak etc. due to AC no problem; come collect. We didnt until two days later when he added - 'slight oil leak from rear main oil seal. Part on order. No coolant leak found'. All this in writing. Think he mentioned gear box removal to my wife which indicates as posted above.

pete4130

It's usually older cars that have a weeping rear main seal and when they start to leak its a good idea to change the clutch when they are doing it. It shouldn't need one being so new.