Parking bollard hitting underside of car

mp3ireland2

I live in rented accommodation and there are parking bollards in the car park spaces, the ones that lie down when unlocked. The bollards seem to sit high and on a couple of occasions over last six months I have noticed the sound of impact. The car seems to be leaking a bit of oil now so suspect the sump is damaged, hopefully just needs a new bolt. Anybody else with experience of these being poorly designed? Have car booked in for Tuesday morning and will just keep the oil topped till then. I'll try to remove the bollard and put it back before I move out, as it's never used anyway. It's just frustrating! Just here got a moan really I suppose

Atlantic Dawn

Check the oil level every journey until it's checked out on Tuesday.

mp3ireland2

Thanks will do, a couple of times over past week in a sharp corner the oil light has flashed on momentarily. Have bought oil and will keep an eye on things

biko

You'd have to do some pretty hard impact to damage the sump, but it's possible.
We'll see what the mechanic says.

DIY -> main forum.

mp3ireland2

biko wrote: »

You'd have to do some pretty hard impact to damage the sump, but it's possible.
We'll see what the mechanic says.

DIY -> main forum.

Yeah I'll take another look to see if I can see anything leaking in the engine, I had changed the oil and filter myself a couple of months ago, I used a vacuum pump though and didn't open the sump and only in past week that I've noticed

FileNotFound

Had a similar issue with a passat i had, was just lower than most other cars i had had (not lowered just factory lower even compared to other passats).

Bit of a pain and yes poor design or installation on the bollard front.

Most likely the sump, hopefully something easy to fix. Good luck

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime

Do you hit the bollard if you reverse into your space ?

I'd say if you reverse in you shouldn't hit anything because there's not really that low under the rear of the car. But just reverse in very gentle incase the front still touches under the engine

Also if it's on any kind of hill , are you hitting the kerb when parking too with the body of the car ?

mp3ireland2

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime wrote: »

Do you hit the bollard if you reverse into your space ?

I'd say if you reverse in you shouldn't hit anything because there's not really that low under the rear of the car. But just reverse in very gentle incase the front still touches under the engine

Also if it's on any kind of hill , are you hitting the kerb when parking too with the body of the car ?

Yeah I always reverse in, there's a slight incline going into the space. I think the issue is when I don't reverse in straight, if I pull up alongside and then reverse in at too great of an angle.
I'm the same is a ford focus with no mods just seems a bit low. I've never noticed it hitting the kerb. There's a footpath in front of the space so I have to reverse over the footpath and the bollard ends up under the car. I drove forward in yesterday for a change, just to assess how much oil was coming out. Doesn't seem too bad, I've a bit of 0w30 left and have bought 5w30 to top up with if required, so just need to get till Tuesday morning!

Does oil leak much more when the engine is running and it's under pressure? That's my only concern I can't see if much comes out when driving!

mp3ireland2

I'm used to seeing a more distinct line on the oil.... Am I empty or is the level over the yellow part?
https://ibb.co/9vctk3b

This was the cleaned dipstick
https://ibb.co/Fq2HGSP


I can't manage to get links or pictures to embed!

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime

mp3ireland2 wrote: »

I'm used to seeing a more distinct line on the oil.... Am I empty or is the level over the yellow part?
https://ibb.co/9vctk3b

This was the cleaned dipstick
https://ibb.co/Fq2HGSP


I can't manage to get links or pictures to embed!

Stop driving it.

Looks to me like no oil left.

If you pull out the dipstick and that's what came up is because of oil splashing around the engine when the engine is on. I'd say you're scraping the bottom of the barrel there with oil and will start doing damage very quickly

punisher5112

There is no oil in that, that should be black up to max.

CoBo55

Dry as a bone, have you put any oil into it?

CoBo55

FileNotFound wrote: »

Had a similar issue with a passat i had, was just lower than most other cars i had had (not lowered just factory lower even compared to other passats).

Bit of a pain and yes poor design or installation on the bollard front.

Most likely the sump, hopefully something easy to fix. Good luck

Passat's are an absolute beesturd for clouting anything higher than a mouse on the road, usually the drain plug is swept clean away:mad::mad:

mp3ireland2

CoBo55 wrote: »

Dry as a bone, have you put any oil into it?

Thanks I'll put more oil in.

Odd that oil light doesn't come on!

CoBo55

mp3ireland2 wrote: »

Thanks I'll put more oil in

Honestly you really should leave it parked up until Tuesday you could completely destroy the engine. Will you have to drive it to your mechanic or could you get him to collect it?

KevRossi

Put a sheet of cardboard under the car to see if it's leaking and if so, where.

Although at this stage there should be a large oil patch on the ground under the car.

CoBo55

KevRossi wrote: »

Put a sheet of cardboard under the car to see if it's leaking and if so, where.

Although at this stage there should be a large oil patch on the ground under the car.

Looking at that dip stick I'd say it's already empty.

mp3ireland2

Put another three litres of oil in and now I'm on the top of dipstick. I'll check in morning and have another 3 litres of oil in a container to top up. Feel stupid for not realising the dipstick was reading zero, but better to look like a fool on this forum than to look like one on the side of the road with a bust engine!

Just 36 hours till it'll be dropped off at the garage, leak not crazy bad so should be fine but will be paying close attention!

Thanks to those who let me know it was dry!

punisher5112

mp3ireland2 wrote: »

Put another three litres of oil in and now I'm on the top of dipstick. I'll check in morning and have another 3 litres of oil in a container to top up. Feel stupid for not realising the dipstick was reading zero, but better to look like a fool on this forum than to look like one on the side of the road with a bust engine!

Just 36 hours till it'll be dropped off at the garage, leak not crazy bad so should be fine but will be paying close attention!

Thanks to those who let me know it was dry!

Do not over fill.

When was the last time you checked, should be once a week at least.

What car is it, is it making any metallic sounds when running?

Get it serviced, filters etc done.

mp3ireland2

CoBo55 wrote: »

Honestly you really should leave it parked up until Tuesday you could completely destroy the engine. Will you have to drive it to your mechanic or could you get him to collect it?

It's about a 15 minute drive, the car is currently parked in the street and I have breakdown cover, so maybe I should get it towed to garage

punisher5112

mp3ireland2 wrote: »

It's about a 15 minute drive, the car is currently parked in the street and I have breakdown cover, so maybe I should get it towed to garage

If you have oil in it, drive on but the damage may well be done.

CoBo55

mp3ireland2 wrote: »

It's about a 15 minute drive, the car is currently parked in the street and I have breakdown cover, so maybe I should get it towed to garage

Just keep a good eye on it and make sure it's on the max mark before setting out to the mechanic.

Pops_20

You should really jack up the car and have a look underneath. If its lost 3 litres of oil it must be a fairly obvious leak.

mp3ireland2

Pops_20 wrote: »

You should really jack up the car and have a look underneath. If its lost 3 litres of oil it must be a fairly obvious leak.

Yeah unfortunately I've no way to Jack it up where I'm currently staying. I'm not sure how long it was losing the oil for. I'll see how things are looking shortly when I hear outside.

Isambard

Be aware that the if the leak is above the sump level, it might not show as a leak when switched off. Could all leak out quite quickly when being driven.

mp3ireland2

So I got the car to mechanic and he has had a look last thing this evening....split o-ring on the oi filter housing. I changed it back in January so wonder if I did anything wrong or it's just bad luck/poor quality.
No metal or anything in the filter thankfully, he's changing the filter and the oil, so hopefully I got off lightly! Will be sure to be checking oil levels more regularly in future....nothing to do with the bollard in the end!

jimmycrackcorm

mp3ireland2 wrote: »

So I got the car to mechanic and he has had a look last thing this evening....split o-ring on the oi filter housing. I changed it back in January so wonder if I did anything wrong or it's just bad luck/poor quality.
No metal or anything in the filter thankfully, he's changing the filter and the oil, so hopefully I got off lightly! Will be sure to be checking oil levels more regularly in future....nothing to do with the bollard in the end!

The bollard was your lucky charm as you'd have ended up with a blown engine. Suprising you didn't hear any knocks though.