Oil leak, oil cooler I guess

[Jas300z]

Hi all,

Have a bit of a problem with an oil leak. Drivers side, not too bad but noticeable on the road. Problem is I am on holiday in the south of Spain and wondering whether I go to the local dealership or just drive home. Question is do the oil cooler pipes have a habit of just letting go, if it is indeed the oil cooler pipe, or do they gradually get worse over a period of time?

Went to the local dealership and was told they needed the car for 4 days to take the engine out to take a look so obviously nervous that they had never seen an RS before. They also wanted to charge me €42 a day for a fiat punto hire car while they had mine.

Going to get some oil for the journey home but want to make sure I have a good chance of actually getting home I the first place

Any advice welcome and gratefully received. Don't fancy calling my boss to tell him I need another week on top of the 3 I already had up that would be nice.....

[MB2]

I have (so far) been lucky & my oil cooler hasn't leaked...from reading on here it sounds very easy to destroy the oil-cooler when removing the hoses unless the nuts are cut off very carefully so if you do trust it to a Shop in Spain I would make sure they understand this & also can get an oil cooler quickly in case things go wrong with the removal process.

[adsgreen]

Yes - the corrosion is stronger than the Ali metal of the cooler.
Need to cut off the bolts carefully.

However not engine out job - what a load of tosh.
I don't know of any technician that would pull an engine at the first sign if a leak.

Instead of you get it in the air and remove the undertray you should be able to trace the leak easily enough.
You *may* be ble to use compression type stretchy tape to help stem the leak but I have only used these on coolant lines which I suspect may be much lower pressure than oil lines.

[adsgreen]

This is what I was thinking of
http://www.repairproducts.co.uk/page37.htm

Kraken tape. Apparently good for 700 psi (!) so should be ok on oil lines.

But does depend on where the oil is coming from and this is a bumper off job.

[Jas300z]

I have been reading through the other posts on this too and think I will get some oil and keep a close eye on the leak on the way home. I am sure the engine out was 'lost in translation' but I didn't want to chance it just in case.