Oil Leak From Glow Plug (1.6 Tdci)

[hawker]

I seem to have an oil leak coming out from the top of one of my cylinders in my 2006 1.6TDCi.

I only noticed it today when I decided to take out the air box and clean the MAF sensor. I noticed oil in the rubber pipe going into the airbox when i disconnected it and oil contamination in the air filter itself, so i took the plastic engine cover off only to see it was practically covered in oil which had been burned into something that looks like a combination of soot and hard lumps of coal!

I didnt even know this was happening (no oil on floor, no tell tale signs around the visible areas of the engine bay etc., and engine has been running pretty much as expected)

Obviously i'll be taking this into the garage right away, but I was wondering if any of you could shed some light onto what may have happened, and what the best/worst case scenarios could be to fix. Reason I ask what may have caused this is that ever since I picked the car up after it had a service I noticed the oil was quite a bit above the max on the dipstick, so was wondering if overfilling with oil could have caused a seal to go possibly?

Or has something else happened?

thanks

[hillmangimp]

Is it from the cylinder or injector area? These cars are known to have faults with leaking fuel return pipes/injector seals. However this may not be the case with yours if you have a lot of oil (if its the fuel return pipe/injector area it will be diesel and not oil).

[bottletree]

i took mine in for a service 2 weeks ago. Its the same model as yours. I checked the dipstick before i set off back home and noticed it had far too much oil in. I got them to empty the excess, all 2 pints of it. A mechanic friend said to me if i had left that much extra oil in the engine i would have blown the engine.

Get yourself down to the garage where you had the service done and get them to repair the damage THEY have done.

[hawker]

Is it from the cylinder or injector area? These cars are known to have faults with leaking fuel return pipes/injector seals. However this may not be the case with yours if you have a lot of oil (if its the fuel return pipe/injector area it will be diesel and not oil).

You got it spot on mate. ;)

I took it to a Nationwide Autocentre, and they seem to think its an injector seal. they quoted me £98 to do the problem one, but said that the other 3 could be affected because of this? (dont know) but for all 4 they have quoted £170 for the job. Does this seem a fair price?

[hillmangimp]

You got it spot on mate. ;)

I took it to a Nationwide Autocentre, and they seem to think its an injector seal. they quoted me £98 to do the problem one, but said that the other 3 could be affected because of this? (dont know) but for all 4 they have quoted £170 for the job. Does this seem a fair price?

Shop around, now you know the problem get some moe quotes, independents will be cheaper in all liklehood. There is a tendency to replace things like these in sets rather than individuals.

[Jes]

I 've just discovered an oil leak on my one too :(, just left it at the garage for inspection.

It takes ages for hot air to blow out from the airvents in winter, has anyone experienced the same problem or some thing else is wrong with the heating element in mine. Thanks

[MrrNoName]

hawker.. how far was the oil level above the max line in mm? when my engine is cold its right on the max, when the engine is warm its about 2-3mm over... your post has got me worried.... haha i hope its ok :(

[mjt]

It takes ages for hot air to blow out from the airvents in winter, has anyone experienced the same problem or some thing else is wrong with the heating element in mine.

Diesels warm up much more slowly than petrols so its probably normal.

[Coops1116]

My malfunction light kept coming on so I started digging and found that there was oil in one of my glow plugs. Anyone know why there would be oil in just one and not the others 

[isetta]

are you sure you mean glowplugs? have you taken them out? (if you haven't, don't try as the sometimes snap off). I am thinking do you mean the injectors?   what engine is this on (assume diesel as you mention glowplugs)  - but what size engine.  can you provide photo of what you are seeing?