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[Neil]

Took my car down to the local garage, been dealing with for 26 years or more today.nice family run garage....because I have noticed an oil leak on the drive....
nothing special, you all say, but it's a Nissan Note, not yet 6 years old.............and jap cars non't normally leak oil...after all they weren't made by british leyland...

and they found the fault............I'll leave it open for an hour or two as to what suggestions you might think it was......

and Trawlerman is banned from answering as he knows what it was, lol.....I found it extraordinary

neil.

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

Ok Neil.  I'll go first.

                  You left the oil cap loose.     

[Netleyned]

It's a Renault Engine

Ned

[dodgy geezer]

either the oil filter or the sump fell off....   

[dreadnought72]

My first Nissan Almera had a sump so thin it wept oil at about 6 years.

Andy

[Neil]

dg was close........but Andy was spot on..........my sump has corroded.............in all my years of running old brit cars including many MG's.........I have never had a sump corrode.....amazed me!!

[dodgy geezer]

less than 18 minutes - we probably diagnosed it faster than the garage....   

[Artistmike]

They don't make horseless carriages like they used to.......   

[Martin (Admin)]

What are the Mayhem consultancy fees?

[dodgy geezer]

What are the Mayhem consultancy fees?

3 ft of 1/4 square spruce down, and a whiff of balsa wood glue every second Thursday...

[Circlip]

Mate had a Focus that left a spot of Oil on the road. Took it to garage who lowered the cover under the engine and flooded their floor with oil. After a serious look round the "Leak" was found. Oil filter had a hole in the can that had rusted through from the outside thanks to where the paint was scraped from the can.

  Regards  Ian.

[dreadnought72]

less than 18 minutes - we probably diagnosed it faster than the garage....   

This is one of the joys of the internet - diagnosis of faults from the experience of hundreds of owners. There are a number of sites promoting really useful advice on car repair.

For example: my Ford Ka was misfiring just before Christmas, and all the web advice was "the spark plugs need replaced" (fairly obvious) with BIG warnings that "the spark plugs may well sheer when removed". And, inevitably, the last one did. I was left with top half in the wrench and the threaded half in the engine. 

Further reading suggested (to save a £££ bill on getting the engine top end off and sortted) to soak the stump with WD40, hammer a screwdriver into the sparkplug and wind the b*****r out. Which, with much swearing, I managed to do. 

But the thing is, I would not have begun to attempt this sort of fix without a pile of advice from "those in the know". 

Andy

[irishcarguy]

Hi Andy, you should put anti seize on the sparkplug threads or you will have the same problem again next time. This happened a lot with Mazda's. It is fairly common on alloy cylinder heads but if you strip out the thread when removing the plug it can get expensive in a hurry. A good shop will know how to heli coil the plug hole if that happens. Mick B.

[john s 2]

Something that has not been mentioned, is that you should never put cold plugs into a hot engine. Particuley an alloy head.The plugs receive heat and expand. as alloy contracts more than steel the plugs become over tight. if the engine is run the steel also heats up and expands. How to release? Good luck. John

[essex2visuvesi]

Hi Andy, you should put anti seize on the sparkplug threads or you will have the same problem again next time. This happened a lot with Mazda's. It is fairly common on alloy cylinder heads but if you strip out the thread when removing the plug it can get expensive in a hurry. A good shop will know how to heli coil the plug hole if that happens. Mick B.

The Old Fiat/Lancia twin cam unit was a sod for that as well

[malcolmfrary]

Most of the cars that I've had, the sump had a layer of oily goo from where it had either leaked or been spat out by the breather - sort of self rust-proofing. 
But I do recall, one day, driving my Morris Minor van onto a building site, doing whatever I was doing and finding out, as I drove off, that someone had removed the ramp that I had not an hour before driven in on.  As the world tilted, there was a heck of a clonk from underneath, and a later check revealed that the leading edge of the sump was both shiny and chamfered.  It never did leak, though.  I expect that sumps were made with more thickness of metal those days.

[dreadnought72]

Hi Andy, you should put anti seize on the sparkplug threads or you will have the same problem again next time. This happened a lot with Mazda's. It is fairly common on alloy cylinder heads but if you strip out the thread when removing the plug it can get expensive in a hurry. A good shop will know how to heli coil the plug hole if that happens. Mick B.

Good points, Mick - the new ones were liberally coated in copper grease before being inserted. 

Andy

[essex2visuvesi]

soak the stump with WD40, hammer a screwdriver into the sparkplug and wind the b*****r out.
Andy

If you don't have WD40 to hand then a little diesel will do the job equally well

[F4TCT]

Speaking or car troubles.. i've always had German stuff such as Audi and BMW's..

Had an old a4 about 2 years after i passed my test which was a 1.9tdi thing, bought on 140,000 miles and sold on 184,000 and still going strong. Always kept the service in date etc.. all that went on the engine was a £20 hose.

body wasn't bad either, bar a little suspension issue.

Then had my accident and bought my mates BMW 323 (2.5l straight 6), didn't have that long enough to have any issues with it.

Then got a passat, got rid of that as it was too slow and got the current Audi a4 brand new in may 2010. Its a 3.0l v6 diesel.

Had nothing but issues such as it being two months old and me hitting a pot hole and it destroying a wheel, a tyre and my will to live.

Audi wanted £1400 to put it right so i said speak to insurance who took care of it, minus the excess..

Went back in the garage for the service later that year to be told every single wheel has some sort of buckle on it due to the roads.

Nasty steering wobble has developed, probably down to the wheels, and i think the original pot hole incident has damaged the very good, but delicate suspension.

Had a few odds and sods like scratches appearing, stone chips, wheels being curbed by mother and the damn thing being reversed into by mother

Last year i was on the way to the air tattoo at RAF Fairford and i had a bird strike on the way there. which I discovered has cracked the headlight casing. Its like a plastic type thing and very expensive to replace apparently - not sure what consequences this has for the MOT due in may next year.

Its been a very unlucky car. Im going to get it vinyl wrapped when i have the money to do so and when the things paid off and is 100% mine. Might then make it look like it should - stunning, especially for the price i paid for it.

Thats the issue with buying new i guess, they break your heart when they get damaged. equally as new, you are in control of it and therefore know its past etc etc...

Dan

[essex2visuvesi]

I have never owned a new car :( even when I had a company car it was my bosses Hand-me-down (Mondeo ST24 Estate so didnt complain too much)

Currently in the Family are:-

74 Corvette (long term restoration project so doesnt really count)
96 Jaguar XJR 4.0 Supercharged
97 Range Rover 4.6HSE
2001 Opel Zafira 1.8

Can you guess which one has been the most unreliable/problematic?

[Shipmate60]

I must say I am certainly not impressed with German Cars, too expensive and certainly a lot less reliable than a mainstream Japanese car.
Our cars:

1997 Jaguar XK8 (my wife's toy)
1998 BMW 328i Tourer ( my car but bought on price, cheaper than a vectra, mechanically oik but an electronic nightmare )
1990 ford Fiesta ( Daughters car, first rate, mhardly any problems)
1990 Hyundai Coupe 2.0 My youngest lads, good as gold.

Bob

[john s 2]

Most troublesome? My guess the range rover. Not biased had one ,liked it. John.

[bikerdude999]

I have never owned a new car :( even when I had a company car it was my bosses Hand-me-down (Mondeo ST24 Estate so didnt complain too much)

Currently in the Family are:-

74 Corvette (long term restoration project so doesnt really count)
96 Jaguar XJR 4.0 Supercharged
97 Range Rover 4.6HSE
2001 Opel Zafira 1.8

Can you guess which one has been the most unreliable/problematic?

Very jealous
Quite jealous
Not so bothered....
and probably the least reliable.....

[essex2visuvesi]

Very jealous
Quite jealous
Not so bothered....
and probably the least reliable.....

Correct so far in 4 years of ownership the zafira has had 2 ECUs, Coil pack, 3 sets of anti roll bar link arms, 2 MAF sensors, water pump, radiator, Air Con Condensor,, track rod ends, ball joints, 4 shocks and a recon engine... and I'm pretty sure I have missed something
Range Rover owned almost the same amount of time 4 tires and a ball joint
Jag (2 years) nothing other than service items and rear tires (it has quite an apetite for them lol)

[bikerdude999]

Jag (2 years) nothing other than service items and rear tires (it has quite an apetite for them lol)

Think I might be able to guess the reason for that too, your foot has an appetite for pushing a certain pedal to the floor.....? I've always wanted an XJ8 4.0, in metallic red, with cream and walnut interior... not the average young persons car, but as soon as finances sort themselves out I'll be getting 1....