Go to the website catch recommended, and print it off, highligh the content that is relevant to the case, and hand it over if needs be. if you have any problems at all, call the garage and advise that at the time you want to collect the car, you would like to see it on the ramps and see what they have done tor esolve it, and any old / replaced parts (as well as the MOT advisory sheet!)

Spoke to a mechanic who said that he's test drove the car today to get the oil hot, he then put it up on a ramp and could see oil coming from the casing for fifth gear. He removed the casing, cleaned it and replaced it. He's then repeated the test drive and apparently there's now no leaks.

Off to pick it up at 7:00pm so we'll see later.

Sounds better, but I'm not counting my chickens quite yet.

Well I picked the car up from the garage last night and touch wood it seems ok. No evidence of any leaks last night or this morning, so we'll see. I'm not going to pursue the Consumer Rights complaint any more at the moment, but if it does start to leak again, then all of the brilliant advice I've been given in this thread will come in very useful.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Spoke to a mechanic who said that he's test drove the car today to get the oil hot, he then put it up on a ramp and could see oil coming from the casing for fifth gear. He removed the casing, cleaned it and replaced it. He's then repeated the test drive and apparently there's now no leaks.

Well it must be 36 years since I last had a gearbox and drive shaft on the kitchen worktop [much to the wife's disgust] And the quote "casing for the fifth gear" has me totally bamboozled!

Now gearboxes may have changed somewhat in that time, but I would imagine that the layout is basically the same. All the gear wheels in there together, being lubricated by the gear oil contained within the gear box. Now if there was a leak at the point where the drive shaft connects to the gearbox, I would have thought it was a drain gearbox oil, separate both components, renew gasket/seal, re assemble and re oil the gearbox.

Now I may be totally wrong in what I have just said, as I stopped "getting down and dirty" a long time ago. So maybe some of our more enthusiastic younger members eager to lay hands and socket sets on the undersides of the engine bay, could add their thoughts on the matter.

Edit: Or maybe they just prized the gearbox/drive shaft apart and applied some silicone grease to it :D [ joke reference to that thread I linked to]

And yes me being the cynic that I am, I would certainly keep my eye on it, and for a lot longer than a couple of days.

I read it on here, but obviously it doesn't mean it's 100% true:

http://forums.mg-rover.org/archive/index.php/t-391345.html

I read it on here, but obviously it doesn't mean it's 100% true:

http://forums.mg-rover.org/archive/index.php/t-391345.html

Well as the same term has cropped up from two different sources, it sounds correct.

I never "wing it" hence if I don't know for certain, I always qualify my comments by saying "I could be wrong" And in this instance I was right in saying that because I was wrong :D

So lets hope it is fixed, and you can now get on and enjoy your new motor.

Hopefully that will happen, but we will see.

If it does cause problems again, I'm getting it assessed by an independant gearbox specialist and whatever they say, i will be going directly back to the garage armed with your advice.

Bump back to the top.

Update - We received the car back and it seemed ok until Wednesday this week I noticed oil on the drive, so I had a look under the car and it was leaking from the black plastic cover that protects the gear selector on the front of the gearbox. I took the cover off, and inside there I found an oily rag. It appears that the garage have stuffed a rag in there to soak the oil up, and now the rag is full of oil it's started to leak onto the drive. I couldn't believe it.

I rang consumer advice yesterday who have said to get a quote to repair it, and then send the garage a letter stating what's gone on and how much it will cost to put right. They said that the garage are within their rights to repair it themselves, to which I said I don't want the garage touching the car again. So she said to put in the letter that I don't trust them to carry out the repair. She said it might end up in a small claims court to which I'd be happy to pursue.

So I'm off to Mr Clutch tomorrow for a diagnosis and then we'll be doing a letter.