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Hi, just got this '02 HDi 90 last month and in the last few days I've noticed a small oil leak - or at least I think it's oil...
It seems to be dripping off the undertray thing to the driver's side. Any ideas where it could be leaking? There's some oil stains around the filler cap and rocker cover, but I can't see anywhere obvious where it could be dripping down from the top. I tried searching here for similar issues but most seem related to the intercooler on the 110s.

I've been checking levels and it seems to be going down a very small bit on the dipstick, but the dash indicator still thinks it's at the max level so maybe I'm just imagining it. There's small oil patches pretty much everywhere I've parked since I got the car so it's likely it's been happening since I got it.

When I bought the car the power steering fluid level was on the min line, so I topped that up a couple of weeks ago and it's still on the max line - could it be this? Are the steering racks known to start leaking?

Hi ,
its guess work mate ,
couid be the oil cap is not sealing or rocker cover is not tight enough or needs new gasket,
Mine was loose but was blowing oil back wards onto bulk head,

also check engine cover is secure as ive noticed if theyre loose the vibration can rattle the dip stick up and oil can come up from dipstick,

best bet is to wipe all the oil residue off and keep an eye on it see if you can work out what area the leak is coming from,
also pinch up the rocker cover bolts a little bit and see if the leak stops ,

Powersteering fluid is red hence why my guess is on the above

my XUD had a small oil leak and it turned out to be the rocker cover was loose, very loose in fact. 10mm spanner and nip them up, do not over tighten them.

unless its pouring out the engine i wouldnt worry about it, all engines leak a bit of oil , it could be coming from anywere like lozz said its guess work

the turbo may leak a little, rocker cover, it could be coming from the head,

i was advised to leave it if its not bad .

Thanks for the suggestions, I looked again today and it does seem pretty oily around the oil cap seal. Is there a recommended torque for tightening the rocker cover bolts? I still haven't got around to getting a Haynes manual

I already took the engine cover off a few weeks ago, the two right mounts have gone AWOL and one of the clips is lying on the undertray (surprised it's still there) - it was constantly pulling out the dipstick.

I think I'll try and clean things up a bit and monitor things from there. And where is the turbo exactly, is it the thing between the engine and the bulkhead? I'm still new to all this diesel malarky

just nick up the rocker cover bolts . just be gentle and dont over do them.

yes the turbo is inbetween the bulk and engine. attached to the exhaust manifold were it comes out the engine.

tighten the rocker cover bolts in a sequence. then it clamp down evenly
if you just tighten the bolts in a row it can fubar up the gasket,

as above just nip them up dont overtighten them

The oil leak seems to have stopped in the past week or so, but recently I've noticed the gearbox seems to whine a lot, even in 3rd and 4th (maybe it was like this before but I have started driving with the radio off recently ), and the gear changes have always been a bit notchy - so maybe it was the gearbox leaking all along? Seems odd though that the leak was at the other side of the engine. I'm gonna get it checked out anyway.

if the gearbox is whining i would not run it again untill its had an oil change to make sure the correct amount is in there .
if it was gearbox oil it could well be coming from the drive shaft seals on the drivers side .

is engine oil staying the same ? not loosing any ?

The engine oil doesn't seem to have gone down at all, it's stayed at about 3/4 between min and max since I started checking it (it's just gone blacker ). I noticed other threads here about leaking driveshaft seals, that makes a bit more sense now. I'll get it checked out tomorrow, thanks.

The whining isn't really loud, as said before I only notice it in third and fourth with the radio off, when engine braking in 1st or 2nd gear it's quite loud but I don't know what's normal either - the Fiesta I had before this had a knackered box so was quite noisy too, so I'm kinda used to it :/

Turns out it was just the sump plug - whoever serviced it before I bought it used the wrong washer! He showed me underneath and everything else was bone dry.
The mechanic seemed to think the gearbox is fine (though not too much left in the clutch), maybe I was just getting a bit paranoid about it...