Big oil leak, dipstick?!?
 

Hi guys and girls
posting on behalf of a mate.
went for a drive this evening and he tells me when we get back his car revs were rising and dropping (about 500rpm) when we stop at lights and his car wasn't boosting consistently.
i pull the bonnet catch to find the whole passenger side of the engine bay is covered in oil and the dipstick lever is loose in the holder.

it feels as though the O ring itself on the dipstick lever has failed, as it slides in and out of the holder tube and won't click into place.

does this sound right?! It seems like something stupid to happen and have never seen anything like it before.

if that is the case, are the O rings easy to get hold of and change?

Thanks

Hopefully not excessive crankcase pressure blowing the dip-stick out the tube then.

is there any way of testing this easily? My mate has bought another dipstick and some oil just to top it up which should be here by the weekend.

Things to look out for are oil in coolant and coolant in oil.
If the crank case has enough pressure to force out the dipstick and a load of oil then I'd be worried about piston or piston ring failure. The only way to really be sure is a compression test.
The fact the car won't idle properly is another worrying symptom.

i will check the coolant when he is over next but the oil looked clean (a little black, definitely due a change)

The idle issue has only happened that one time and it was during the drive home.

The only other thing to note is when he first starts it up the whole car seems to shake. Can feel it if you're sitting in there, or even if you just touch the bodywork.
It lasts a couple minutes and then settles down to normal. This has happened twice now.

Thinking about it, it could also be as simple as a blockage in the crankcase breather tubes or a dodgy PCV.
The car hasn't had a catch can fitted recently?

Get it running and remove the oil filler cap - you will soon see if it has excessive crankcase pressure.

nope, no catch can fitted recently as far as I know. He's only had it 2 weeks and has barely used it.

whst will happen if it does have excessive pressure?

thanks

The same as what happens when you remove the coolant filler cap when it's hot. :lol1:

Did you get this sorted? Just interested to know what the cause was.

Sorry for the late reply. After sitting for a while without use my mate got it delivered to a garage who discovered there was no compression on cylinder 4. 👎🏼

Sorry to hear that. At least it's an excuse to have it re-built...

It is, but as always these things happen at the wrong time :p think he's getting an STI lump for it. We will see. 👍